2015 Waco shootout
Deadliest biker shootout in Waco since 1993 siege.
On May 17, 2015, a shootout occurred at a Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco, Texas, where over 200 members of motorcycle clubs had gathered for a meeting about political rights for motorcyclists. Law enforcement officers who were monitoring the event returned fire after being shot at, according to police. Nine bikers were killed, 18 others wounded, and 177 individuals were arrested, though the subsequent prosecution resulted in zero convictions.
Quick Facts
- Date
- 17 May 2015; 12:27 p.m. CDT
- Location
- Waco, Texas, U.S.
- Causes
- Gang wars involving rival motorcycle clubs
- Methods
- Shootout
- Fatalities
- 9
- Injuries
- 18
- Arrests
- 177
Facts from the source article.
Background
In 2014, the Texas Department of Public Safety classified the Bandidos Motorcycle Club as a "Tier 2" threat, the same rating as the Crips, Bloods, and Aryan Brotherhood, but did not evaluate the Cossacks. The assessment noted that the Bandidos conducted illegal activities covertly and avoided high-profile acts like drive-by shootings. According to Steve Cook, executive director of the Midwest Outlaw Motorcycle Gang Investigators Association, the dispute involved the right of Texas outlaw motorcycle clubs to wear jackets with distinctive patches, including a geographic bottom rocker reading "Texas," which the dominant Bandidos claimed the right to approve.
A police affidavit released June 16 described the conflict in similar terms. Following the shootout, police spokesman Patrick Swanton said a turf war was a factor. The conflict allegedly began after a Cossack was beaten by Bandidos at a Toys for Tots event in Decatur, Texas on December 6, 2014, and a Ghostriders MC member was killed the following week in Fort Worth. Skirmishes continued on March 22, 2015.
A police affidavit described fighting between Bandidos and Cossacks since November 2013, including brawls in Abilene, Palo Pinto County, and Lorena, Texas. On May 1, 2015, the Texas Department of Public Safety issued an advisory stating the conflict might stem from Cossacks refusing to pay Bandidos dues for operating in Texas and for claiming Texas as their territory by wearing the Texas bottom rocker. The shootout occurred at a regularly scheduled regional meeting of the Texas Confederation of Clubs and Independents, a statewide biker coalition involved in political issues regarding motorcyclists' rights.
Shootout
Waco police, who had been watching motorcycle club activity at Twin Peaks, said the trouble started after noon. The initial dispute was reportedly over a parking spot where someone’s foot was run over, and the situation quickly worsened. Gunfire began at 12:24 p.m. Sergeant W. Patrick Swanton would not say how many of the dead and wounded were hit by police fire, but he acknowledged that officers may have shot some victims, explaining that the bikers shot at officers first and the officers shot back.
Nine bikers were killed, and eighteen others were taken to the hospital; that injury count was later raised to twenty. Swanton noted that officers used “Active Shooter” protocols, a newer set of rules that let law enforcement use deadly force against mass shooters more quickly, even before a command structure is set up. All the deaths and most of the injuries came from gunshots. This shootout was the most lethal and widely known event in the Waco area since the 1993 siege of the Branch Davidian compound.
At a June 5 bail hearing, prosecutor Michael Jarrett stated that video footage shows “Bandidos executing Cossacks, and Cossacks executing Bandidos.”
Police investigation
Spokesman Patrick Swanton said police recovered about 320 weapons from the crime scene, including Swiss Army knives, pocket knives, handguns, and a Kalashnikov rifle. 192 people were initially arrested, with 171 charged with participation in organized crime and booked at the McLennan County Jail. As of May 19, 171 people were arrested under case WPD-15-9146, charged with engaging in organized criminal activity; of these, 124 were white males, 41 Hispanic males, three white females, two black males, and one Native American female.
A grand jury indicted 106 people in connection with the shootout. All suspects had bonds set at $1 million by Justice of the Peace W.H. "Pete" Peterson, who said it sent a strong message. On May 19, three suspects were released after their bonds were mistakenly set at $20,000 and $50,000; McLennan County Judge Ralph Strother issued a warrant to have them rearrested and their bond reset to $2 million. Strother also ruled that no suspect's bond could be reduced without his approval.
Police officers reported receiving several threats after the shooting. On May 22, Bandido Jeff Battey posted bail; his lawyer and prosecutors argued over whether he could leave jail, and he ultimately did after the district attorney and two district judges negotiated special restrictions including ankle monitoring, surrendering of passports, abstention from drugs and alcohol, and no contact with club members or potential victims.
Criticism of Waco police
On May 29, attorney Clinton Broden filed a lawsuit in U.S. Federal district court claiming his client Matthew Alan Clendennen was innocent and held on a "fill in the name" warrant without individual probable cause. Clendennen, a Baylor University graduate and small business owner with no prior criminal record, was bailed after posting $100,000. Two and a half weeks after the shootout, over 140 of those arrested were still held on $1 million bail.
Law school professor David Kairys characterized the police attitude as "Let's arrest them all and sort it out later," comparing the arrests to the Red Scare mass arrests after World War I and McCarthyism. Waco police tried to prevent release of standard information about the shootout, particularly regarding arresting officers; the city attorney requested the attorney general of Texas allow withholding public records from news media. By early June, criticism of the lack of accurate information increased in national news media.
Conor Friedersdorf of The Atlantic described the incarceration of 160 people on $1 million bonds as "self-evidently excessive. A Houston Press reporter described the response as "a textbook example of how not to handle an emergency situation."
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