Thread: 9 Dead, 177 Arrested, Waco officials under scrutiny for biker shootout case

Texas officials under scrutiny for biker shootout case

Jerry Larson
FILE - In this May 17, 2015 file photo, authorities investigate a shooting in the parking lot of the Twin Peaks restaurant, in Waco, Texas. Bikers and public watchdogs have criticized authorities here for how they’ve handled the shooting investigation, citing the mass arrests of more than 170 people held for days or weeks on $1 million bonds without sufficient evidence to support those arrests four months after the shootings. No formal charges have been made, and it remains unclear whose bullets, including police bullets, struck the dead and injured, or when cases will be presented to a grand jury, which is currently led by a Waco police detective. (AP Photo/Jerry Larson, File)






Posted: Sunday, September 13, 2015 1:00 pm | Updated: 3:01 pm, Sun Sep 13, 2015.
Associated Press |

WACO, Texas (AP) — The secrecy that enshrouds the investigation into a biker shootout in May that left nine people dead and led to the mass-arrest of 177 people is hardly surprising in this city, where public scrutiny is rare and unwelcome.

On the banks of the Brazos River in Central Texas, Waco and the surrounding county are largely run by a close-knit circle of judges, prosecutors and law enforcement that defense lawyers complain leads local agencies to close ranks in the aftermath of this most recent calamity.

It's a city where a district judge and district attorney are former law partners, the mayor is the son of a former mayor, the sheriff comes from a long line of lawmen and Waco pioneers and the sheriff's brother is the district attorney's chief investigator.

Bikers and public watchdogs have criticized authorities here for how they've handled the investigation, citing the mass arrests in which people were held for days or weeks on $1 million bonds without sufficient evidence to support such actions four months after the shootings.

No formal charges have been made, and it remains unclear whose bullets, including police bullets, struck the dead and injured, or when cases will be presented to a grand jury, which is currently led by a Waco police detective.

"I don't know of any defense lawyer who hasn't looked at the facts of this case and gasped," said Grant Scheiner, a criminal defense attorney in Houston not connected to the bikers' case.

Waco police, McLennan County prosecutors and judges refused to comment — citing a gag order written by the DA — but law enforcement staunchly defend their actions, including the 12 shots that the police chief said officers fired into the melee after bikers allegedly opened fire on them.

The violence erupted May 17 before a meeting of a coalition of motorcycle clubs that advocates rider safety. Police have said two rival biker gangs got into a confrontation that turned deadly when one group of bikers opened fire on another outside a Twin Peaks restaurant.

Some 177 people were arrested and remained in custody until their bonds were reduced. Defense attorneys have been critical of how the cases have been processed, accusing District Attorney Abel Reyna of writing "fill-in-the-blank" arrest affidavits. A police officer testified a justice of the peace approved the affidavits without making any individual determination of probable cause.

In the criminal case of one of the defendants, Reyna's former law partner, District Judge Matt Johnson, issued a gag order as written by Reyna.

Many bikers who previously told The Associated Press they were innocent bystanders are now reluctant to speak further because of the gag order.

Although police and the district attorney described last spring everyone who was taken into custody as criminals, an Associated Press review of a Texas Department of Public Safety database found no convictions listed under the names and birthdates of more than two-thirds of those arrested.

Justifying the mass arrests, Sheriff Parnell McNamara said, "A message was sent to the whole country that we will not tolerate this type of disorder in our community."

McNamara describes the county's criminal justice system as a close-knit Christian "posse" of Baylor University graduates committed to "putting away as many hard-core criminals as possible."

That kind of mentality led the county's former district attorney, John Segrest, to compare the McLennan County criminal justice system to a "bubble, a separate realm. When you're a member of the system, you tend to think that most everything revolves around anything that you do. You get an unrealistic view of the world from inside."

The city's crown jewel is Baylor, the world's largest Baptist university, which in the 1880s attracted Baptists from across Texas to Waco, then known as the buckle of the Bible Belt.

The private university has an air of insularity that extends to the county courthouse, a domed palace whose Lady Justice lost her arm holding scales in a storm.

From a series of Ku Klux Klan lynchings nearly a century ago to a massive twister in 1953 that tore through downtown to the Branch Davidian siege in 1993, Waco's downtown streets, a mix of historic mansions, public buildings, dilapidated houses and empty spaces where nothing was rebuilt reflect a city perpetually recovering from its last disaster.

Sheriff McNamara, the descendent of one of Waco's early settlers, was formerly a U.S. marshal who participated in the Branch Davidian siege in which federal agents tried to arrest cult leader David Koresh for stockpiling weapons at a ranch outside town. The confrontation led to a 51-day standoff that ended when the complex caught fire, killing Koresh and nearly 80 followers.

The international attention brought by the tragedy left Waco residents wary of outside law enforcement, and they say they'll handle the biker shootout themselves.

"Waco's nickname is Six-Shooter Junction," McNamara said. "Not really anything we're real proud of, but that's just the way it is."

http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/new...413704af8.html

Is it no wonder that law enforcement has a public relations problem? Wait until the truth comes out in the Fox Lake Shooting. Coming soon.

Waco Police Bullets Hit Bikers in May Melee

New reports reveal information about biker gang shootout

POSTED: 09:17 AM CDT Sep 19, 2015


FORT WORTH -When two rival motorcycle gangs clashed outside a Texas restaurant, nine bikers ended up dead, their bodies sprawled on the pavement, surrounded by blood and shell casings. After the shooting stopped, a police officer asked everyone with a weapon to raise a hand.

Nearly everyone did, according to a police report.

Four months after the shootout, authorities have released almost nothing about the gunfight beyond a vague initial description of a brawl that spiraled out of control. They have never indicated who fired the fatal shots.

But evidence reviewed by The Associated Press now confirms that the gunfire included rounds fired by police that hit bikers, though it isn't clear whether those rifle shots caused any of the fatalities.

The AP reviewed more than 8,800 pages of evidence related to the May 17 confrontation, including many police reports, and viewed dash-cam video and photos and listened to audio interviews. Together, the evidence offers the best insight yet into how the shootout unfolded.

Investigators have offered scant details about what sparked the fight or how the gunfire played out, and no one has been charged with any of the deaths.

The trove of evidence - expected to be presented to a grand jury - includes dashboard video of people fleeing the scene while shots ring out, audio of police threatening to shoot people if they rise from the ground and photos of bodies lying in pools of blood in the restaurant parking lot.

The gunfire erupted shortly before a meeting of a coalition of motorcycle clubs that advocates for rider safety. Waco police were aware of the potential for violence and assigned 16 officers to watch over the gathering. State police were also present.

Many witnesses, including bikers and waitresses at the Twin Peaks restaurant, told police that the shooting began after a Bandido rider hit a prospective member of the Cossacks with his motorcycle. A fistfight ensued, followed by several minutes of shooting, according to the evidence reviewed by the AP.

Bikers and drivers can be seen on video fleeing the restaurant parking lot on foot and in vehicles while officers carrying rifles run to the scene. As shots pop off in the background, an officer swears repeatedly.

The aftermath looked like a combat scene.

"Bloodied bodies were lying all over. Guns and knives were strewn about everywhere," officer Phillip Zboril wrote in a 724-page incident report.

Back in June, Waco Police Chief Brent Stroman said three officers fired a total of 12 shots, but police have never said whether those bullets struck anyone, fatally or otherwise.

Officer George Vrail was assigned to a special detail to cover the meeting and wrote in the incident report that he saw two officers during the shootout who "had multiple suspects down on the ground."

The officers told him they had been "engaged" by gunfire as they got out of their marked police car. Both of them returned fire and "struck multiple suspects with their patrol rifles."

In his portion of the incident report, officer Keith Vaughn wrote that another officer spotted a man shooting into the crowd and told Vaughn that he fired one round "to stop the individual from shooting anyone else."

Police and prosecutors have said that there is video footage that shows Bandidos and Cossacks shooting at one another. The AP has reviewed video from Twin Peaks and an adjacent restaurant, but neither shows clearly who is shooting at whom.

At least 20 people were treated for gunshot wounds and other injuries.

Waco police spokesman Patrick Swanton declined to comment on the evidence, citing a gag order in the criminal case of one of the bikers. Media organizations, including the AP, have gone to court to fight the order, which they contend is overly broad and unconstitutional.

According to the incident report, a separate Waco police investigation into the police shootings was underway as of July 20. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is conducting ballistics analyses. ATF spokeswoman Nicole Strong declined to comment.

Following the shooting, 177 people were arrested and held for days or weeks on $1 million bonds on charges of engaging in organized criminal activity. But no one has been indicted, and it remains unclear whose bullets struck the dead and wounded.

Also unclear is when a grand jury will hear the evidence, which has been shared with criminal defense attorneys.

More than 430 weapons were recovered from the crime scene, including 151 guns, according to the incident report. Many weapons were taken from bikers. Others were recovered from vehicles, bushes outside the restaurant and the men's bathroom, where two pistols were found in toilets, photos show.

Authorities did not know exactly what to do with the large number of weapons and "just started laying them on the ground away from the suspects," officer Joshua Fischer wrote in a report.

The bikers were taken to the Waco convention center for processing and were told on the way that they were going to be interviewed as witnesses, according to a 430-page Texas Department of Public Safety report that corroborates what arrested bikers have told AP.

But prosecutors decided late that night to arrest the majority of those detained.

District Attorney Abel Reyna and his staff told authorities at the convention center that anyone wearing a patch, clothing or insignia that indicated support for the Bandidos or Cossacks should be charged with engaging in organized crime, according to the report.

Reyna did not return calls seeking comment.

http://www.krgv.com/news/local-news/.../35369320scene.

New grand jury set to consider Waco biker shooting cases

October 14, 2015 11:47 CDT

WACO, Texas (AP) -- A grand jury has been empaneled and is poised to consider the cases of 177 people arrested after the May shootout involving bikers and police in Waco.

The McLennan County district attorney subpoenaed two high-ranking members of the Confederation of Clubs and Independents, a coalition of motorcycle clubs that advocates biker safety, to provide information Wednesday about the confederation's meeting that was to take place May 17 at a roadside restaurant.

Nine people died and 20 were injured during the shooting, which authorities say arose from an apparent confrontation between the Bandidos and the Cossacks motorcycle clubs.

None of the 177 people arrested and held for days or weeks on $1 million bonds has been charged.

It remains unclear whose bullets struck those who died or were hurt.

http://www.kfoxtv.com/template/inews...l#.Vh6rOflViko

Last Person Jailed in Waco Biker Shooting to be Released

Marcus Pilkington will be released more than five months after the shooting

POSTED: 07:46 AM CDT Oct 31, 2015



FORT WORTH -The last person jailed in connection with a deadly shootout among bikers and police outside a Waco restaurant was poised to be released from jail Friday, more than five months after authorities rounded up 177 people from the crime scene and initially held them on $1 million bonds on charges of engaging in organized criminal activity.

A Waco jail was processing the release of Marcus Pilkington, 38, Friday on a $50,000 bond - a sharp contrast from the first biker to be released, Jeff Battey, 51, who posted the full $1 million three days after the shooting. Both men were injured in the melee.

Nine people died and 20 were injured during the shooting, which authorities say arose from an apparent confrontation between the Bandidos and the Cossacks motorcycle clubs.

More than 430 weapons were recovered from the crime scene, including 151 firearms.

The gunfire erupted shortly before a meeting of a coalition of motorcycle clubs that advocates for rider safety.

Investigators have offered scant details about what sparked the fight or how the gunfire played out, and no one has been charged with any of the deaths.

In a 430-page Texas Department of Public Safety report reviewed by The Associated Press, Pilkington told investigators interviewing the injured that he did not fire a gun.

Battey, who was shot in the arm, said "I may have fired a gun, I don't know."

Also Friday, Battey's attorney, Seth Sutton, filed a motion to have the ex-Marine's ankle monitor removed and the condition that he not speak with any bikers lifted.

According to the motion, Battey's attacker first fired his gun at Ray Allen, who was among those killed, before pointing his gun and firing at Battey's chest. Battey raised his arm to deflect the bullet.

http://www.krgv.com/news/local-news/...eased/36174914

NOV 10 2015, 8:43 PM ET

106 People Indicted in Waco Biker Brawl That Killed Nine

by M. ALEX JOHNSON




Watch New Surveillance Video of Bikers Shooting 1:47

A Texas grand jury returned indictments Tuesday against 106 of the 177 people who were arrested after a shootout between cops and members of two motorcycle clubs left nine people dead at a Waco restaurant in May.

The McLennan County grand jury returned true bills accusing the 106 suspects of engaging in organized criminal activity, with the underlying offenses being murder and aggravated assault, District Attorney Abel Reyna said Tuesday night in Waco.

Charges against the 71 other suspects weren't presented Tuesday but will be "at a later time," Reyna said.


The scene after a shooting in the parking lot of the Twin Peaks restaurant May 17 in Waco, Texas. Jerry Larson / AP — file

The indictments weren't made public, and the identities of the 106 suspects weren't released.

"We're not done," Reyna said. "We still have a lot of work to do."

Nine bikers were killed and more than 20 other people were injured in the shootout May 17 at the Twin Peaks sports bar in Waco. Nearly all of the suspects are free on bond.

Related: Waco Biker Brawl: Scores Arrested After Shootout at Twin Peaks Bar

More than 430 weapons were recovered from the scene, including 151 firearms, according to a police incident report.

Police said in June that three officers fired 12 shots, but they haven't said whether the bullets hit anybody.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/...d-nine-n461096