Authorities in Texas reportedly are investigating whether a dispute over a parking space set off a deadly brawl and shootout between motorcycle gangs outside a Waco restaurant Sunday afternoon.
The Dallas Morning News reported that police were pursuing the parking space theory after interviewing several witnesses to the violent melee that left 9 gang members dead and injured 18 others. 170 gang members were charged with organized crime activity Monday, and investigators left open the possibility that capital murder charges may be filed. Bond was set at $1 million for each suspect, and the Morning News reported that members of each gang being kept separate from the other gangs at the local jail.
It’s like the Wild West,” McLennan County Sheriff Parnell McNamara told the paper. “These guys become very violent to each other very quickly over nothing."
Authorities remained on high alert Monday after receiving what they called "credible information" that members of other motorcycle gangs might be heading to Waco to attack law enforcement officers in retaliation for Sunday's violence. Members of tactical units from various law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, stood guard over the crime scene outside the Twin Peaks restaurant, while snipers stood on the roof.
Waco Police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton said that bikers had been spotted traveling into Waco, but no further violence had been reported Monday.
"We have a contingency plan to deal with those individuals if they try to cause trouble here," Swanton said.
Earlier Monday, Dallas TV station WFAA reported that the Texas Department of Public Safety's Joint Information Center issued a bulletin May 1 that cautioned authorities about increasing violence between the Bandidos and the Cossacks. McNamara has said all nine people who were killed in the melee Sunday were part of those two groups.
The bulletin said the tension could stem from Cossacks refusing to pay Bandidos dues for operating in Texas and for wearing a patch on their vest that claimed Texas as their turf without the Bandidos' approval.
"Traditionally, the Bandidos have been the dominant motorcycle club in Texas, and no other club is allowed to wear the Texas bar without their consent," the bulletin said, according to WFAA.
The bulletin said the FBI had received information that Bandidos had discussed "going to war with Cossacks." It also outlined several recent incidents between the two groups, including one instance in March when about 10 Cossacks forced a Bandido to pull over along Interstate 35 near Waco and attacked him with "chains, batons and metal pipes before stealing his motorcycle," WFAA reported.
That same day, a group of Bandidos confronted a Cossack member fueling up at a truck stop in Palo Pinto County, west of Fort Worth, the bulletin said. When the Cossack member refused to remove the Texas patch from his vest, the Bandidos hit him in the head with a hammer and stole it.
The Bandidos "constitute a growing criminal threat to the U.S. law enforcement authorities," the Justice Department said in a report on outlaw motorcycle gangs. According to the report, the Bandidos are involved in transporting and distributing cocaine and marijuana and in the production and distribution of methamphetamine.
Five gangs from across Texas had gathered at Twin Peaks to in part settle differences over turf, Swanton has said.
Police and the restaurant operators were aware of Sunday's meeting in advance, and 18 Waco officers in addition to state troopers were outside the restaurant when the fight began, Swanton said. Police have acknowledged firing on armed bikers, but it was unclear how many of the dead were shot by gang members and how many were shot by officers.
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