9 Dead in Rival Motorcycle Gang Fight Shootout at Twin Peaks in Waco, TX (VIDEO) (Update: 3 of the 5 Motorcycle Gangs ID’d as the Bandidos, Cossacks & Scimitars)(Update: 192 Arrested)

THANKFULLY, NO POLICE OR CIVILIANS WERE INJURED IN THE SHOOTOUT …

As per the McLennan County Sheriff’s Office, there are 9 dead and 18 injured following a shootout between rival motorcycle gangs in Waco, Texas. The shooting took place Sunday afternoon just after 12 in the Twin Peaks restaurant located in the Central Texas Market Place. According to accounts, the fight first started inside the restaurant and spilled into the parking lot where the fight quickly escalated from fists and feet to chains, clubs and knives, then to gunfire. In the aftermath of the chaos, the police recovered more than 100 weapons from the scene. Trooper D.L. Wilson said officers arrested three men near the Cabella’s store after they seized their weapons. According to CNN, the fight may have started over a parking space. When asked if the police knew what the three gangs were that took part in the shooting, Sergeant Swanton said, “We do, but we’re not going to give them the privilege at this point of putting their names out there.” However, according to this one report, at least five were present and some of the gangs were fighting as allies. Police estimate that between 150-200 gang members were involved.

VIDEO – FOX News

Rival motorcycle gangs turned a local restaurant into a shooting gallery Sunday afternoon and when the gunfire was over, nine people were dead and 17 were injured.

Waco police Sunday afternoon, assisted by Department of Public Safety troopers, police officers from several cities and deputies from the McLennan County Sheriff’s Office were surrounding the Twin Peaks Restaurant, in the Central Texas Market Place after several people were reported shot during a rival motorcycle gang fight, Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton said.

Police initially said three gangs were involved, but later said factions from at least five gangs took part in the melee.

Police and troopers were in the parking lot trying to secure the area and protect citizens when a fight broke out inside the restaurant and spilled into the parking lot.

Swanton said the fight quickly escalated from fists and feet to chains, clubs and knives, then to gunfire.

Gang members were shooting at each other and officers at the scene fired their weapons, as well, Swanton said.

Other patrons in Twin Peaks and some employees locked themselves in a freezer to escape the fight.

The scene at the Market Place between Don Carlos and Twin Peaks was absolute chaos, Swanton said.

“It is one of the most violent scene I’ve seen in my 34 years as a police officer in Waco,” Swanton said.

Swanton said officers recovered more than 100 weapons from the scene and there were several vehicles that had bullet holes in them.

Swanton said no officers and no civilians were injured.

Authorities had anticipated trouble and pre-positioned officers; however, it appears that the establishment wanted the business rather than working with the police. In a post shooting presser, District Attorney Abel Reyna said that trouble at Twin Peaks among rival bikers had been brewing for some time. Reyna said local police were on heightened alert in anticipation of trouble on Thursday nights, when Twin Peaks hosts a Biker Night. Twin Peaks might want to rethink that marketing plan.

“There were at least three rival gang groups here this morning for whatever reason. As they were here, we had officers on scene. We expected issues,” said Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton, a police spokesman. He later said there were at least five gangs.

UPDATE I: The Twin Peaks Restaurant had hosted motorcycle gang members in the past.

Are these people friggin insane, Bikers Night … there is a recipe for disaster. Hell, these folks didn’t even wait for Thursday, they decided to have a shootout on the Sabbath. This Twin Peaks in Waco advertizes Biker night as  “Get revved up and ready to go at Twin Peaks bike night.” Or shot. What’s Wednesday, Crips and Bloods night? Hey, maybe they can have Skin head Saturday where all of a white supremacist and antisemitic groups get two for 1 beers? Have I been absurd enough?  It is hard to believe that Twin Peaks corporate would allow this to go forward. This is not a local strip club catering to bikers, its a national chain.

The authorities made little effort on Sunday to conceal their frustration with the restaurant’s managers, who they said had previously been uncooperative in dealing with the Police Department’s security concerns about biker gatherings there.

“We have attempted to work with the local management of Twin Peaks to no avail,” Sergeant Swanton said. “They have continued to allow these bikers to gather here, and this is the culmination of what has occurred.” He added: “What happened here today could have been avoided if we had had management at a local establishment listen to their police department and assist us. They failed to do that.”

As recently as last week, the restaurant advertised “Bike Night” on Thursdays and promised “beers, bites and bikes at the hottest place in town!”

In a statement from Twin Peaks Restaurant chain:

A spokesman for the Twin Peaks Restaurant chain emphasized that the shooting had occurred outside the restaurant but declined to provide details about the police security concerns.

“We were shocked by the shootings that took place in the parking lot of our franchised restaurant in Waco and are fully reviewing all the circumstances surrounding it,” the spokesman, Rick Van Warner, said. “We are thankful no employees, guests or police were injured in this senseless violence outside the restaurant, and our sympathies are with the families of those killed.”

UPDATE II: Waco Tribune – Multiple law enforcement sources confirmed that the Bandidos and Cossacks biker gangs were at the center of the incident.

There were 5 motorcycle gangs involved in the shooting. Two of them at the heart of the trouble were the rival gangs, the Cossacks and the Bandidos. The third motorcycle gang involved in the shooting was the  Scimitars Motorcycle Club, who are aligned with the Cossacks Motorcycle Club against the Bandidos. The other two motorcycle gangs have yet to be identified.

At least two of the gangs were trying to do some recruiting in the area Sunday, and Twin Peaks was a known place for that kind of activity, Swanton said. Multiple law enforcement sources confirmed that the Bandidos and Cossacks biker gangs were at the center of the incident.

UPDATE III: 192 arrested in motorcycle gang shooting in Waco, TX.

Some 192 people have been arrested and charged with engaging in organized crime in connection to the deadly shooting that broke out between five biker gangs at a Twin Peaks in Waco. Under a Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission mandate, the restaurant is shut down for the next seven days as the investigation continues early Monday morning into the shooting that left nine people dead and at least 18 people injured — an investigation that has included biker gang death threats made against uniformed officers.

“Threats have been made to kill our uniformed officers,” said Waco Police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton early Monday morning, who added that the people arrested could be looking at capital murder charges. “This was a true gang fight.”