KWTX by Don Smith 5/18/2020
Five years ago Sunday nine died and 18 were injured after a shootout erupted between rival motorcycle groups at Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco.
The shootout was the deadliest and most high-profile event in the Waco area since the Waco siege of the Branch Davidian compound in 1993.
The bikers said the agenda at the regional meeting of the Texas Confederation of Clubs and Independents (COC&I), a statewide biker group coalition based in Tyler, involved political issues regarding the rights of motorcyclists.
But trouble was brewing between the Bandidos and the Cossacks.
Eighteen Waco police officers and four state troopers were there, monitoring the event from outside, when an altercation between two rivals led to a fight, then to open gunfire.
When the gunfire ended, nine bikers were dead, most of them killed by police, and 18 others were injured.
No law enforcement officers or civilians were injured as a result of the gunfire.
In the end the event led to a five-year-long prosecutorial fiasco that ultimately resulted in not a single conviction, in spite of the fact that 177 bikers were arrested at the scene and 15 others were later charged, as well.
More:
https://www.kwtx.com/content/news/5-Years-Ago-Today--570542231.html
