Nearly 200 arrested Monday following Texas biker gang shootout

Nine people were killed and 18 wounded in the shooting that began inside a Waco restaurant Sunday and spilled outside the establishment.

|
Jerry Larson/AP
Authorities investigate a shooting in the parking lot of the Twin Peaks restaurant Sunday, May 17, 2015, in Waco, Texas. Authorities say that the shootout victims were members of rival biker gangs that had gathered for a meeting.

Nearly 200 people were arrested on Monday after a shootout between rival motorcycle gangs a day earlier where nine people were killed and 18 injured at a restaurant that law enforcement called a horrific crime scene.

The bikers from at least five rival gangs attacked each other with guns, knives, brass knuckles, clubs and motorcycle chains at a Twin Peaks Sports Bar and Grill in the central Texas city of Waco. No bystanders or police were injured, police said.

When the bikers began shooting, officers moved in, some of them also firing their weapons. When the shooting ended, bodies were scattered in the restaurant and across two parking lots.

At least 50 weapons were recovered from the blood-soaked crime scene and 192 people had been arrested in connection with the deadly brawl, Waco police said.

"Yesterday's events was bad guys on bad guys. When our officers arrived, those bad guys turned their guns on our officers," Waco Police Sergeant Patrick Swanton told a news briefing.

"Some of those (charged) may have been witnesses, many of those are going to be individuals involved in the shooting, and criminal charges may be applicable for that," he said.

The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission is closing Twin Peaks located at a shopping mall by a busy highway for at least seven days "due to the ongoing danger it presents to our community," police said.

Twin Peaks is a chain restaurant where scantily clad waitresses serve bar food.

Police are worried about retaliation over the attack, saying officers and hospital staff have been threatened.

"I will tell you that we have had threats against law enforcement officers throughout the night," Swanton said.

The fight appears to have started in a bathroom, moved to the restaurant and then spilled out into parking lots where police had positioned themselves in anticipation of trouble.

Police said restaurant management had been informed about the meeting of the rival gangs and could have done more to prevent the incident. The restaurant manager said he is cooperating with law enforcement.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Nearly 200 arrested Monday following Texas biker gang shootout
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2015/0518/Nearly-200-arrested-Monday-following-Texas-biker-gang-shootout
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe