WACO,
Texas — Many streets were nearly deserted in Waco, apart from law
enforcement officials keeping watch, as night fell following a shootout
between rival motorcycle gangs at a restaurant that left nine bikers
dead and raised the specter of further violence.
Authorities
increased security to quell other possible attempts at criminal
activity in the Central Texas town following the melee Sunday that also
left 18 bikers wounded, Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton said.
The
violence erupted shortly after noon at a busy shopping center along
Interstate 35 after members of at least five rival gangs gathered at
Twin Peaks restaurant for a meeting, Swanton said. Preliminary findings
indicate a dispute broke out in a bathroom, escalated to include knives
and firearms and eventually spilled into the restaurant parking lot,
according to police.
"I was amazed that we didn't have innocent civilians killed or injured," Swanton said.
The
interior of the restaurant was littered with bullet casings, knives, a
club, bodies and pools of blood, he said. Authorities were expected to
work throughout the night to process the evidence at the scene about an
hour and a half south of Dallas. About 150-200 bikers were inside during
the shootout, and at least 100 were detained, authorities said. It
wasn't immediately clear how many were arrested.
Parts
of downtown were on lockdown, and officials could be seen stopping and
questioning motorcycle riders. Agents from the FBI and federal Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were assisting local and
state authorities in the investigation.
"I
am feeling a lot of anxiety," said Darhonda McFarland, assistant
manager at Denny's at the Flying J Travel Center. McFarland told the
Waco Tribune about 30 bikers clad in black walked into the restaurant
shortly after the shooting.
They
sat down but then abruptly got up and left, she said. About five
minutes later, a SWAT team arrived, searched the restaurant and
questioned people in the parking lot.
"I
have never personally been caught up in anything quite like this from
such a personal point of view. It was too close for me," she told the
newspaper.
Police
and the operators of Twin Peaks were aware of the meeting in advance,
Swanton said, and at least 12 Waco officers in addition to state
troopers were outside the restaurant, part of a national chain that
features scantily clad waitresses, when the fight began.
Officers
shot armed bikers, Swanton said, adding that the actions of law
enforcement prevented further deaths. It wasn't immediately clear
whether any of the nine dead were killed by police officers.
A
statement sent Sunday night on behalf of Jay Patel, operating partner
for the Waco franchise, said, "Our management team has had ongoing and
positive communications with the police," and added that the restaurant
was cooperating with the investigation.
But
Swanton described the management as uncooperative with authorities in
addressing concerns about the gangs and called Patel's statement a
"fabrication."
Rick
Van Warner, a spokesman for the Dallas-based corporate franchisor, said
the company is reviewing the circumstances surrounding the shooting and
is "seriously considering revoking" the Waco location's franchise
agreement.
Van
Warner said he couldn't address what the franchise owners "did or
didn't do leading up to this," but added that the company is "very upset
that clearly our standards of safety and security were not upheld in
this particular case," he said.
McLennan
County Sheriff Parnell McNamara, whose office is involved in the
investigation, said all nine who were killed were members of the
Bandidos or Cossacks gangs.
In
a 2014 gang threat assessment, the Texas Department of Public Safety
classified the Bandidos as a "Tier 2" threat, the second highest. Other
groups in that tier included the Bloods, Crips and Aryan Brotherhood of
Texas.
The Bandidos, formed in the 1960s, are involved in trafficking cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamines, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The Texas assessment doesn't mention the Cossacks.
There's
at least one documented instance of violence between the two groups. In
November 2013, a 46-year-old from Abilene who police say was the leader
of a West Texas Bandidos chapter was charged in the stabbings of two
members of the Cossacks club.
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