On May 17, 2015, in Waco, Texas, United States, a shootout erupted at a Twin Peaks restaurant where more than 200 persons, including members from motorcycle clubs that included the Bandidos, Cossacks, and allies, had gathered for a meeting about political rights for motorcyclists. Law enforcement, which included 18 Waco Police Department officers and four Texas Highway Patrol troopers, had gathered to monitor the restaurant and meeting from outside, and, according to police, "returned fire after being shot at". Nine bikers were killed, 18 others wounded or injured, and 177 individuals were ultimately arrested and initially detained in connection with the shootout, most for alleged participation in organized crime. According to The New York Times, "the response by prosecutors was widely criticized as brazen overreach". According to the Waco Tribune-Herald, the shootout led to a "four-year prosecutorial fiasco that resulted in zero convictions."
Background
In 2014, the Texas Department of Public Safety listed the Bandidos Motorcycle Club as a "Tier 2" threat, the same rating as the Crips, Bloods, and Aryan Brotherhood, but it did not evaluate the Cossacks. That assessment said that the Bandidos Motorcycle Club "conducts their illegal activities as covertly as possible, and avoids high-profile activities such as drive-by shootings that many street gangs tend to commit."
According to Steve Cook, executive director of the Midwest Outlaw Motorcycle Gang Investigators Association, an element of the dispute had to do with the right of Texas outlaw motorcycle clubs to wear jackets decorated with distinctive patches, including a geographic bottom rocker reading "Texas", indicating Texas as the territory of the club. The dominant Bandidos claimed the right to approve all such jacket bottom rocker patches. A police affidavit released June 16 described the source of the conflict in similar terms. Following the shootout, police spokesman Patrick Swanton said a turf war between the rivals was a factor in the deadly encounter. It allegedly started following the beating of a Cossack by Bandidos at a Toys for Tots event in Decatur, Texas on December 6, 2014, and the killing of a gang member of the Ghostriders MC the following week in Fort Worth. Skirmishes over the issue continued on March 22, 2015. A police affidavit described fighting between Bandidos and Cossacks going back to November 2013, including brawls resulting in injuries, in Abilene, Palo Pinto County, and Lorena, Texas. Some of those previously injured bikers were arrested in Waco after the shootout on May 17.
On May 1, 2015, the Texas Department of Public Safety issued an advisory statement to police: "The conflict may stem from Cossacks members refusing to pay Bandidos dues for operating in Texas and for claiming Texas as their territory by wearing the Texas bottom rocker on their vests, or 'cuts.'"
The shootout erupted at a regularly scheduled regional meeting of the Texas Confederation of Clubs and Independents (COC&I), the statewide biker club coalition, involved in political issues regarding the rights of motorcyclists. Based in Tyler, Texas, the coalition engages in a broad range of activities; for example, it was honored by the city council of Jacksonville, Texas, on May 14 for its involvement in Motorcycle Safety and Awareness Month.
According to the police, most previous meetings of COC&I for that region had been held in Austin, Texas. COC&I has twelve regions, and Waco is in Region 1. The Bandidos are leading members of the COC&I while the Cossacks are not. The police affidavit claims that the Bandidos "wanted to have a show of force and make a statement that Waco was not a Cossacks' town". The police account states that, in response, the Cossacks "threatened that Waco was a 'Cossacks town' and nobody else could ride there" and they made "the decision to take a stand and attend the meeting uninvited".
Police were made aware of the meeting and had at least a dozen local officers plus state troopers positioned nearby. The restaurant had agreed to host the meeting. Officers described the restaurant management as uncooperative when confronted with concerns about the meeting. Swanton said Twin Peaks had been unhelpful in helping police officers deal with gangs in the past.
Shootout
The conflict began sometime after noon, according to Waco police who had been monitoring motorcycle club activity at the Twin Peaks restaurant. Initial reports say the original conflict began, allegedly over a parking spot where "someone had their foot run over", and the fight escalated from there. At 12:24 p.m., gunfire erupted. Waco Police Sergeant W. Patrick Swanton declined to reveal details regarding how many of the dead and injured were shot by police, though he added it was possible that some of the victims had been shot by officers, stating "They started shooting at our officers and our officers returned fire." In total, nine bikers died and eighteen others were hospitalized with injuries. Later the number of injured was amended to twenty.
Swanton also related that officers invoked the "Active Shooter" protocols, which are rules of engagement newly designed and implemented to give responding law enforcement officers quicker permission to engage mass shooters with deadly force, before a command and control structure is in place. All of the fatalities, as well as the majority of those injured during the melee, suffered gunshot wounds. 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.
In a June 5 bail reduction hearing, prosecutor Michael Jarrett said videotape of the shootout shows "Bandidos executing Cossacks, and Cossacks executing Bandidos". Arguing in favor of the high bonds, Jarrett said, "The facts and circumstances of this case are so extraordinary and so different from anything we have ever dealt with, we believe adequate bonds need to be in place to ensure the safety of this community."
Although all of the deaths were due to gunfire, other weapons seized after the conflict included chains, brass knuckles, knives, clubs, and batons. The knives included pocket knives, trench knives, and combat knives. A police source told CNN preliminary information indicated four of the bikers had been killed by police gunfire, but Swanton said "[t]he autopsies have not been completed and that information may very likely be incorrect". According to six witnesses interviewed by the Associated Press, three of whom were military veterans, the shootout began with a small number of pistol shots, and was then dominated by semi-automatic weapons fire. Only one semi-automatic rifle was confiscated from a biker, which was in a locked car, though other sources such as an affidavit released on June 16 suggest the presence of additional firearms among the bikers; however, the police officers at the scene were also armed with semi-automatic firearms. Swanton said the bikers fired more shots than the police did, and that it will take months to obtain ballistics reports.
Security footage shown by the Twin Peaks franchisee to the Associated Press showed one man started shooting on the patio, at which time most bikers tried to seek safety inside, first in the bathroom, and when that room filled up, the kitchen. None of those camera angles showed the parking lot.
On June 12, the Waco Police Department announced three officers fired their .223-caliber rifles a total of twelve times. It was later determined that those rounds struck four of the bikers. Forty-four spent casings were recovered at the scene, according to the police.
Vehicle forfeiture documents released June 16 include a detailed affidavit with a description of the police and prosecution's version of the events leading up to the shootout, and what they say happened at the shootout itself. The affidavit says the Cossacks arrived over an hour before the scheduled 1:00 pm meeting, and "took over the patio area, which had been reserved for the COC&I meeting." As a group of Bandidos arrived, several Cossacks and their allies approached and some pulled weapons including pistols. Bandidos member Reginald Weathers testified at a bond reduction hearing that he was part of that group of Bandidos, and that Cossacks members disrespected Dallas Bandidos president David Martinez immediately upon their arrival, arguing about a parking space. When Weathers stepped forward to defend Martinez, he says he was punched in the face, and then shot by a single bullet that passed through his arm and his chest. Since he was leaning over after being punched, he said he did not see who fired the shot. One Bandido nearly hit a Cossack with his motorcycle, and another Bandido "punched a Cossack in the face". At that point, "[s]everal Bandidos and Cossacks pulled out their weapons, including handguns, and shot and stabbed each other," and Martinez fired a .32 caliber pistol that he then placed in a parked car, according to the affidavit. Martinez was among those arrested and has since been released on bond. Police gunfire then followed.
Casualties
All nine men who were killed died of gunshot wounds. According to erroneous initial police statements, eight were Cossacks and one was a Bandido.
- Daniel Raymond "Diesel" Boyett, 44, Cossack, shot in the head.
- Wayne Lee "Sidetrack" Campbell, 43, Cossack, shot in the head and torso.
- Richard Matthew "Chain" Jordan, III, 31, Cossack, shot in the head.
- Richard Vincent "Bear" Kirschner Jr., 47, Cossack, shot a total of 3 times in the knee, right thigh, and left buttock.
- Jacob Lee Rhyne, 39, Cossack, shot in the neck.
- Jesus Delgado Rodriguez, 65, unaffiliated, shot in the head and torso.
- Charles Wayne "Dog" Russell, 46, Cossack, shot in the chest.
- Manuel Issac Rodriguez, 40, Bandido, shot in the head and back.
- Matthew Mark Smith, 27, Scimitar, shot in the torso.
According to his family, Jacob Lee Rhyne, a father of two from Ranger, Texas, had joined the Cossacks six months prior and didn't own a gun. His girlfriend said, "I cannot see Jake going there if he knew there was going to be trouble. Our kids were too important."
Jesus Rodriguez's son said the Vietnam War Marine Corps veteran and father of seven from New Braunfels, Texas, was "in the wrong place at the wrong time" and didn't carry weapons. He used to carry a pocketknife, but stopped after being told he couldn't bring it into a convention. He was an associate of the Bandidos, but not a patched-in member. Rodriguez received a Navy Commendation Medal for his service in Vietnam, and a Purple Heart for wounds sustained during it.
Daniel Boyett, the only Waco resident to die, owned and ran a trucking company with his third wife.
Manuel Rodriguez was a married Bandido, nicknamed "Bandido Candyman".
As of May 19, seven of the injured remained in a hospital, in stable condition. According to attorney Seth Sutton, who negotiated the first bail, four of the arrested complained to his office that they were jailed before bullet fragments could be removed from their bodies.
Witness accounts
Witnesses who came forth following the event made these statements:
- Witness William English, a former U.S. Marine and Iraq War veteran, reported the firing of small caliber rounds, followed by "a rapid succession of shots from what sounded to me like an assault rifle"; Steve Cochran, a Navy veteran and Sons of the South club member reported to CBS News that he heard one pistol shot, and the rest of the shots came from suppressed assault weapons.
- Former U.S. Marine Michael Devoll of Fort Worth, a biker arrested and held for three weeks, claimed that a large amount of rifle fire came from the police, and that he thought the police were firing randomly into the crowd.
- Former U.S. Army and Coast Guard officer Ron Blackett reported to CBS News that he heard pistol shots which were followed by shots from assault rifles.
- Waco Police spokesman Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton told CBS the witnesses' claims are "completely incorrect" and asserted the police shot less than the bikers.
Police investigation
Spokesman Patrick Swanton said police recovered about 320 weapons from the crime scene. Swiss Army knives, pocket knives, handguns, and a Kalashnikov rifle were among the weapons found. 192 people were initially arrested in connection with the shootout, with 171 of those charged with participation in organized crime. They were booked at the McLennan County Jail. Per that inmate list, as of May 19, 171 people were arrested under arrest case WPD-15-9146, charged with engaging in organized criminal activity. Of them, 124 were white males, 41 were Hispanic males, three were white females, two were black males, and one was a Native American female. One hundred six people were indicted by a grand jury in connection with the shootout.