Texas Standard By Alain Stephens | September 8, 2017
Police had reason to believe violence would occur, but failed to intervene. Twin Peaks management didn’t take proper precautions to protect customers. One state law enforcement agency was kept completely in the dark.
It’s been more than two years since one of the deadliest criminal shootouts in American history. But the bloody clash involving motorcyclists at a Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco continues to be shrouded by a veil of secrecy. Criminal trials are scheduled to start next week, and thanks to a trove of leaked documents obtained by the Texas Standard, we now gain a fascinating insight into the lethal fray.
What information authorities have released to the public seems sparse: a scuffle in a parking lot led to a gunfight. Police, already on the scene, fired into the fray, leaving nine dead and 18 wounded. Members of the biker gang known as the Bandidos were singled out as the primary culprits. Mass arrests wrangled 177 people who were held on extraordinarily high $1 million bonds, with many contending they were merely bystanders that day.
Law enforcement has stayed largely silent on the matter, while those accused of wrongdoing have launched a series of civil lawsuits targeting everyone from the police to Baylor University. What previously undisclosed documents show is that police had reason to believe violence would occur, but failed to intervene, that Twin Peaks management didn’t take proper precautions to protect customers and that one state law enforcement agency was kept completely in the dark.
The “potential for violence” was “very high”
On May 1, 2015, nearly two weeks before the shootings, Waco Police Department gang detective Jeff Rogers sent an email through the department ranks, warning about the potential for violence at an upcoming gathering of bikers. A source had tipped Rogers off that a grassroots coalition of biker groups, known as the Confederation of Clubs and Independents, was going to hold a gathering at Waco’s Twin Peaks on May 17. Rogers’ email said the event could possibly draw 300 bikers, many of them associated with the Bandidos and their support clubs.
Detective Warns of Violence At Twin Peaks Meeting (p. 1)
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Escalating tensions had also drawn the attention of the Texas Department of Public Safety. Two months before the Waco shootings, a warning went out from the Texas Joint Crime Information Center, an intelligence entity run by DPS. The bulletin outlined an incident that occurred in the town of Lorena, just 15 minutes south of Waco. There, a gang of up to 10 Cossacks armed with a chain, a baton and a metal pipe had beaten a Bandidos member and stolen his bike.
The bulletin also noted that on the same day, 150 miles north in Palo Pinto County, a group wearing the Bandidos’ colors (red and gold) hit a Cossacks member in the head with a hammer for refusing to remove a Texas patch from his vest. The right to wear the patch was reserved for Bandidos and their affiliates. The bulletin ended on a note of caution, saying the Cossacks were attempting to get national recognition as a club, and that tensions could “escalate at any time” between them and the Bandidos.
But despite warnings of impending violence and the potential for loss of life, it appears that police didn’t take steps to intervene. In fact, a series of text messages obtained by the Texas Standard, that were sent nearly an hour before the shooting shows that law enforcement may have ignored signs that a violent confrontation was on the horizon.
Michael Lynch was at Twin Peaks on May 17. He belongs to a local motorcycle club known as the Los Pirados. A Waco-area plumber, Lynch had done contracting work for McLennan County Constable Walt Strickland. Before the shooting started, Lynch sent a message asking Strickland to call him immediately, saying there was a “bad situation” with a large number of Cossacks and Bandidos pouring into the restaurant.
Lynch Text Message (p. 1)
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Strickland responded that he notified the Waco police department, and was told police were “unaware” of any problems at Twin Peaks. It’s unclear whether that information was relayed through the proper departmental channels, or if certain parts of the department were unaware of an undercover police presence on the scene.
But emails, operations orders and notes would show that police were already conducting a long-orchestrated surveillance operation that had already unearthed several warning signs.
More:
http://www.texasstandard.org/stories/leaked-docs-show-waco-police-knew-potential-for-violence-ahead-of-twin-peaks-shootout-was-very-high/
