Hundreds of bikers rode into the heart of Waco on Sunday, to protest the police’s handling of the Twin Peaks shootout that left nine people dead, 18 injured and 177 arrested. 
 
 Demonstrators moved through the streets of the Texas city and then massed outside the courthouse for a protest that was silent, save for the rumbling and revving of engines. 
 
 Their chrome machines glinting in the sunshine, colourful graphics and slogans dotting their black leather vests, members of the Rough Riders, Comanche Warriors, Sons of Liberty, Homeboys and other groups gathered in support of those who were killed or imprisoned as a result of the violence at the suburban restaurant three weeks ago. 
 
 Of those arrested, 102 remain behind bars, said John Kolinek, a captain with the McLennan county sheriff’s office. Authorities initially set bail at $1m, which most have been unable to pay. 
 
 Biker supporters and lawyers for the accused maintain that many of those arrested on suspicion of engaging in organised crime were innocent bystanders with no connection to illegal gangs and that the bail amount was excessive. Some have been released after their bond was reduced. The sheer number of arrests has placed the local legal system under strain and caused delays 
 
 An estimated 500 people attended Sunday’s protest, which was billed by the organisers as a peaceful “First Amendment and Redress Rally”. Several – who were not bikers – turned up openly carrying rifles, which is legal under Texas law. Police maintained a visible but discreet presence and the event seemed to pass off without incident. 
 
 American and Confederate flags were brandished along with signs with slogans including “We are not criminals”, “It’s not illegal to be a biker”, “No more massacres in Waco” and “Biker lives matter”. 
 
 Shortly after 1.30pm local time, dozens of bikers arrived at the square in downtown Waco and entered a cordoned-off lot, pointedly parking their motorcycles facing the courthouse’s main entrance. None appeared to be members of the Bandidos and Cossacks, the rival gangs blamed for sparking trouble at a meeting that was supposed to be a friendly gathering to discuss legislative issues. 
 
 Three weeks on, authorities have released little information about what exactly happened during the shootout, including how it began and how many people were killed or wounded by police. A prosecutor said on Friday that video of the incident “clearly shows Bandidos executing Cossacks and Cossacks executing Bandidos, some at point-blank range”, the Waco Tribune-Herald reported. 
 
 Waco police have said more than 300 weapons were recovered from the scene. 
 
 Joe Miller, a 64-year-old independent rider with a grey beard and an aquamarine Harley-Davidson, said he had a lucky escape. He was near Twin Peaks on the day of the shooting but decided not to go to the meeting after seeing men with gang insignia ride past when he stopped to get fuel. 
 
 “I saw all these guys wearing patches, like something’s going on,” he said. “I got out of there.” 
 
 Miller said he came to the rally to protest what he saw as police overreaction: “Arrest them, take their bikes? The bike is their love. They need to get their due process going a bit quicker.” 
 
 Mark Martinez was one of several who travelled to Waco from New Mexico. He said that he came to take a stand against government oppression. 
 
 “They say we’re the land of the free. Man, we all know that’s a bunch of BS,” the 55-year-old said. “I’m not just here because I ride a motorcycle, I’m here for all the people.” 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest A deputy stands guard near a group of bikers in the parking lot of the Twin Peaks restaurant last month. Photograph: Rod Aydelotte/AP 
 
 Standing next to him, Karen Chenault said she wanted to “see the evidence that backs up this extreme response. Is it proportional to the event? I don’t think it is.” 
 
 A man who called himself “Newport”, of the Junkyard Dawgs, said he attended the funeral near Dallas of one of the Bandidos who was shot dead, Manny Rodriguez, aka Candyman. 
 
 “Ah, man, just a good dude. Family man, had two kids, wife, good job,” he said. 
 
 Dan “Spanky” Rush, a road captain with the American Legion Riders, said he feared law-abiding bikers have been stigmatised. 
 
 “Everybody that wears a vest is affected by this,” the 58-year-old said, calling for the authorities to release more details. “All of us aren’t angels, there’s no doubt about that … [but] I don’t think the truth has come out yet.” 
 
 By mid-afternoon, the protesters had dispersed. ||||| Waco, Texas (CNN) A memo has gone out to law enforcement in the wake of Sunday's shooting, warning officers that members of the Bandidos and Cossacks motorcycle gangs reportedly had been instructed to arm themselves and travel to north Texas. 
 
 "Obviously it's something we're concerned about. We would encourage biker groups to stand down. There's been enough bloodshed. There's been enough death here," Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton told CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360" on Monday night. 
 
 By the time the Sunday melee was over, at least nine people were dead, 18 were hospitalized and at least 170 were arrested and charged. 
 
 The biker gang members who began beating, stabbing and shooting each other in a Texas Twin Peaks restaurant knew the police were outside; they just didn't care, Swanton said. 
 
 For two months, police concerned with the bikers' presence at Twin Peaks, which hosted special events for its leather-clad clientele, had patrolled outside -- and not in plain clothes and unmarked cars, either. 
 
 "We wanted our presence to be known," Swanton told reporters. "They knew we were seconds away and going to respond. That mattered not to them." 
 
 The United Clubs of Waco billed Sunday's event as the Texas Region 1 Confederation of Clubs and Independents meeting. Before the restaurant and surrounding parking lots became a bloody battleground, the Waco Police Department had 18 officers on the scene, including an assistant chief and tactical officers, along with four officers with the Texas Department of Public Safety, Swanton said. 
 
 An altercation in the bathroom seems to have sparked the violence. Shots were fired inside the eatery and a brawl spilled onto the patio area, before scores of men flooded the parking lot in broad daylight. Some bikers were beaten with brass knuckles, clubs and chains, while others were stabbed or shot, Swanton said. 
 
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 When police responded -- within 30 to 45 seconds because of their proximity -- the bikers turned their weapons on law enforcement, he said. 
 
 "Our officers took fire and responded appropriately, returning fire," the sergeant said. 
 
 As police rounded up suspects and paramedics tended to the injured, investigators found eight bodies -- three in the parking lot behind Twin Peaks, four near the front of the restaurant and one that had been dragged behind a nearby establishment, Swanton said. More than 100 weapons were confiscated as well, he said. 
 
 Another victim died at a hospital, where doctors treated patients for gunshots, stab wounds, blunt-force trauma or some combination of the three. 
 
 According to a law enforcement source, preliminary information indicates that four of the bikers killed were killed by police gunfire. The investigation continues and the ballistics will be analyzed to determine for certain who was responsible for each shooting. 
 
 A capital murder case 
 
 Swanton called it "the most violent and gruesome scene that I have dealt with" in three and a half decades of law enforcement. 
 
 The scores of suspects, who hail from five different biker gangs, remained locked up in the McLennan County Jail on Monday facing charges of engaging in organized crime, Swanton said. 
 
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 Prosecutors and investigators could level other charges -- and capital murder charges are expected to be among them, given the body count -- but the organized crime charge is "pretty serious," he said. 
 
 "It doesn't get much more significant than that," he said. 
 
 McLennan County Sheriff Parnell McNamara said that bond was being set at $1 million for each of the 170 people in custody. 
 
 Swanton would not release the names of the gangs involved. Photos from the scene showed bikers wearing the insignias of the Cossacks, Bandidos, Scimitars and Vaqueros, but it was not clear if the photographed gang members were involved in the fighting. 
 
 The Justice Department had no such synopsis for the Cossacks, but the book " The One Percenter Encyclopedia: The World of Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs from Abyss Ghosts to Zombies Elite " says they were founded in Texas in 1969 and have a major presence in Australia. 
 
 Bandidos President Jack Lewis was released on $125,000 bond in December 2013 after being charged with the stabbing of two Cossacks outside a restaurant in Abilene, Texas, KTXS reported 
 
 As Swanton briefed reporters at the crime scene Monday afternoon, 24 hours after the brawl, he said tactical units remained on the scene to protect journalists and investigators. Police hoped to finish processing the scene by sundown, he said. 
 
 Franchise revoked 
 
 The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission shut down the Twin Peaks location, known for "bike nights" and its risque dress code for servers, for the next week. It wasn't a punitive measure, Swanton said; rather, it was closed because there's "enough of a reason to believe that more violence would occur there, had they been allowed to remain open for the next seven-day period," he said. 
 
 Later Monday morning, the commission said it was suspending the restaurant's liquor license for those seven days while its agents investigate what happened. The investigation could yield anything from a fine to the permanent revocation of Twin Peaks' liquor license, commission spokesman Chris Porter said. 
 
 There have been no previous complaints or actions taken against the eatery, he added. 
 
 Twin Peaks ' corporate management initially issued a statement offering condolences but later sided with police, who Swanton said had warned the restaurant's managers of the potential for violence and sought their cooperation in staving it off, to no avail. 
 
 A law enforcement officer walks through the parking lot near the scene of the shooting. 
 
 "We are in the people business and the safety of the employees and guests in our restaurants is priority one," the restaurant chain's statement read. "Unfortunately the management team of the franchised restaurant in Waco chose to ignore the warnings and advice from both the police and our company, and did not uphold the high security standards we have in place to ensure everyone is safe at our restaurants." 
 
 It further said the corporate office would be "revoking their franchise agreement immediately. Our sympathies continue to be with the families of those who died and are very thankful no employees, guests, police officers or bystanders were hurt or injured.​" 
 
 The Waco restaurant's Facebook account, which had been a landing page for harsh criticism of the franchise, was deleted shortly thereafter. 
 
 Trouble brewing? 
 
 Earlier this month, McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna told KWTX-TV that local police were on heightened alert for possible trouble on Thursday nights, when Twin Peaks hosted bike nights. Reyna said trouble between two local motorcycle gangs heated up when bikers from the Dallas-Fort Worth area got involved. 
 
 Swanton slammed Twin Peaks after the bloodshed Sunday, saying the franchise failed to help avoid trouble and ignored the police department's advice to try to keep biker gangs away from the restaurant. 
 
 "Are we frustrated? Sure, because we feel like there may have been more that could have been done by a business to prevent this," Swanton said. 
 
 He said Twin Peaks has a right to deny entry to known biker gangs. 
 
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 "They absolutely have a right to refuse service to people that may be a harm to their patrons and employees," he told KTVT . "They didn't do that, and today is the ultimate aftermath of what their decision was." 
 
 Before word came of the franchise being revoked, Jay Patel, operating partner at the Waco Twin Peaks, said his staff was cooperating with police. 
 
 "We are horrified by the criminal, violent acts that occurred outside of our Waco restaurant today," Patel said Sunday night on Facebook. "We share in the community's trauma." 
 
 Swanton responded, calling that statement a "fabrication." 
 
 The franchise released a statement Monday, saying it was working hard to learn the facts about the shooting. 
 
 "It is important to clarify that, to the best of our knowledge, law enforcement officials did not ask either the Waco restaurant operator (with whom they spoke several times) or the Twin Peaks franchisor to cancel the patio reservation that was made on Sunday. 
 
 "Based on the information to date, we also believe that the violence began outside in the area of the parking lot, and not inside our restaurant or on our patio, as has been widely reported," it read. 
 
 Even after the chaos subsided, Waco police continued arresting people arriving at the scene with weapons. 
 
 Swanton warned other biker gang members against coming to Waco to reignite the violence. 
 
 "We have been getting reports throughout the day that bikers from out of state are headed this way," he told KTVT on Sunday. "We would encourage them not to, because we have plenty of space in our county jail to put them there." ||||| Nine people were killed, others were injured and more than a hundred charged in a shooting involving rival biker gangs at a Central Texas restaurant on Sunday. (Published Monday, May 18, 2015) 
 
 A brutal melee among rival motorcycle gangs at a popular Central Texas restaurant left nine bikers dead, 18 injured, 170 arrested and the restaurant littered with bodies, bullet casings, knives, a club and pools of blood, Waco police say. 
 
 "This is probably one of the most gruesome crime scenes I've ever seen in my 34 years of law enforcement," Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton said. "I was amazed that we didn't have innocent civilians killed or injured." 
 
 Police said Monday that they arrested 170 people who are in the process of being booked into the McLennan County Jail on organized crime charges in the brawl. That number, police warned, was fluid and may change as the identities of those arrested are confirmed. 
 
 "Engaging in organized crime is a serious charge," Swanton said. 
 
 9 Killed in Shootout at Twin Peaks in Waco 
 
 Panicked patrons fled to safety Sunday when the violence erupted shortly after noon at the Twin Peaks restaurant in a busy Waco shopping center along Interstate 35. 
 
 Eight people died at the scene and another at a hospital, Swanton said. All were all members of biker gangs, he said, as were the 18 people who were taken to hospitals with injuries that included stab and gunshot wounds. Some victims were being treated for both, he said. 
 
 At least five rival gangs had gathered at the restaurant for a meeting that Swanton said focused on turf and recruitment, two areas where the groups have often clashed. 
 
 A dispute apparently broke out in a bathroom, escalated to include knives and firearms and eventually spilled into the restaurant parking lot, he said. There were 150 to 200 gang members inside the restaurant at the time. Shots were fired inside and outside the restaurant, he said. 
 
 The dead were members of the Bandidos or Cossacks gangs, said McLennan County Sheriff Parnell McNamara, whose office is involved in the investigation. 
 
 The Bandidos were deemed a "Tier 2" threat — the second highest, on par with the Bloods, Crips and Aryan Brotherhood — in a 2014 gang assessment by Texas public safety authorities. The Justice Department says the gang, formed in the 1960s, is involved in trafficking cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamines. 
 
 Texas Biker Gang Mug Shots 
 
 The Texas gang assessment doesn't mention the Cossacks. 
 
 There's at least one past documented instance of violence between the two groups. In November 2013, a 46-year-old from Abilene who police say was the leader of a West Texas Bandidos chapter was charged in the stabbings of two members of the Cossacks club. 
 
 Swanton described the interior of the restaurant after a Sunday night walk-through, saying it was littered with bullet casings, knives, a club, bodies and pools of blood. Authorities would be working the rest of the night to process the reams of evidence, he said. 
 
 Police were aware of the meeting in advance, Swanton said, and at least 12 Waco officers in addition to state troopers were outside the restaurant, part of a national chain that features scantily clad waitresses, when the fight began. 
 
 "We've been made aware in the past few months of rival biker gangs ... being here and causing issues," Swanton said. 
 
 Officers shot armed bikers, Swanton said, adding that the actions of law enforcement prevented further deaths. It was not known if any of the nine dead were killed by police officers. 
 
 Waco Police Provide Update on Biker Shootout 
 
 Waco Police Department spokesman Sgt. Patrick Swanson provides an update on the biker gang shootout that left nine dead and more injured Sunday. (Published Monday, May 18, 2015) 
 
 Swanton said that the restaurant's operators also were aware of the meeting in advance, and he described the management as uncooperative with authorities in addressing concerns. 
 
 "Apparently the management (of Twin Peaks) wanted them here and so we didn't have any say-so on whether they could be here or not," Swanton said. 
 
 A statement sent Sunday night on behalf of Jay Patel, operating partner for the Waco franchise, said, "Our management team has had ongoing and positive communications with the police," and added that the restaurant was cooperating with the investigation. 
 
 Swanton addressed Patel's statement late Sunday night, calling it a "fabrication." 
 
 Rick Van Warner, a spokesman for the Dallas-based corporate franchisor, said the company is reviewing the circumstances surrounding the shooting and is "seriously considering revoking" the Waco location's franchise agreement. The Texas Alcohol and Beverage Commission forced the restaurant to close for at least seven days. 
 
 Van Warner said he couldn't address what the franchise owners "did or didn't do leading up to this," but added that the company is "very upset that clearly our standards of safety and security were not upheld in this particular case," he said. 
 
 Twin Peaks Responds To Deadly Violence In Waco 
 
 The North Texas based corporate owners of Twin Peaks responded to a shootout among rival biker gangs at its Waco restaurant that left nine people dead and 18 injured. (Published Sunday, May 17, 2015) 
 
 Doug Greeness, a biker from Belton, Texas was near the scene Sunday evening. He said he's a member of a family riding club and was waiting for friends to be released from custody so he could return home. 
 
 Greeness, who was not inside the restaurant when the melee broke out, described the event as a meeting of a biker association called the Texas Confederation of Clubs and Independents. He said the group meets to "discuss issues within the biker community." 
 
 Officers with numerous law enforcement agencies were seen parked along the service road for I-35 in southern Waco and were stationed at several points in downtown around the local convention center. Swanton said authorities are increasing security in the area to prevent further violence among the gangs. 
 
 In addition to local and state police, agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were also at the scene about an hour and a half south of Dallas. 
 
 Copyright Associated Press / NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth
– Outlaw motorcycle gangs are in the spotlight after Sunday's slaughter in Waco, though law enforcement officials say they've been thriving for many years out of the public eye. "These guys have never gone away. I'm shocked that people are shocked that this happened," the ATF's Los Angeles chief tells the Wall Street Journal. He was part of a team that infiltrated the Hells Angels more than a decade ago. The Hells Angels, along with the Bandidos, are among the biggest outlaw groups in the US, but the Justice Department says there are more than 300 active ones, the Journal reports. The Waco shootout is believed to have stemmed from a Bandidos-Cossacks feud over the latter club's wearing of a "Texas" patch. Police in Waco have called for a truce between biker factions, the Waco Tribune-Herald reports. A police spokesman says the fighting on Sunday appears to have started after a biker's foot was run over outside the Twin Peaks restaurant, though he adds that investigators are finding witnesses and suspects deceptive. Around 170 bikers charged with engaging in organized crime are still in custody, though the wife of one of them tells the AP plenty of innocent bikers were rounded up. She says her husband—a member of the Vise Grip club—had just arrived when the shooting started. He took off and was arrested when he came back for his bike, she says. Police arrested all sorts of "nonviolent, noncriminal people," she says. "I mean, they got the Bikers for Christ guys in there."