WACO, Texas – A national chain has terminated its franchise agreement with a Waco restaurant owneramid allegations that local management ignored warnings by police that biker gangs were meeting there to plot potentially violent attacks on rival groups.
The announcement follows Sunday's shootout involving five biker gangs and local and state police. Nine people were killed and 18 others were hurt, each tied to a biker gang, Waco police said.
"What happened here yesterday, it all came to a head," said Sgt. Patrick Swanton of the Waco Police Department.
One hundred seventy suspects are now in custody, charged with engaging in organized criminal activity, with bond set at $1 million each.
Police held a series of briefings Monday morning as investigators continued to process evidence inside Twin Peaks restaurant and in the parking lot. At least 100 weapons were used in Sunday's attack as rival gangs clashed. The melee started in a bathroom, spilled into the restaurant and onto a patio, police said.
"You had very violent gang members that were armed and they got into a confrontation," Swanton said. "Started shooting at each other and started shooting at the police," he continued.
All of the dead were members of the Banditos or Cossacks bike gangs.
Investigators are still looking into why so many were present Sunday and most of all -- what led to the melee.
"We think part of it was recruitment," Swanton said. "We think part of it was 'we can come into your town,' sending a message to other bike groups."
Former police officer Mike Cook with the Midwest Outlaw Motorcycle Gang Investigators Association believes the violence was sparked by a challenge to the dominance of the Banditos, Texas' largest and oldest bike club, by the Cossacks. That came in the form of a Texas-shaped patch he says Cossacks members were wearing on their vests. Cooks says the Cossacks have also reached out recently to the Hell's Angels motorcycle gang, the Banditos' long-time rivals nationally.
Police knew in advance about the meeting. They said biker gangs had been frequenting the restaurant for about two months.
On Sunday, 18 Waco police officers, including an assistant chief, along with four state police officers camped out in front of Twin Peaks after receiving a tip that rival groups would meet at the Waco restaurant for a potentially violent encounter.
Investigators said they warned Twin Peaks about what was going on, but local management ignored them.
"We've been trying to work with local management. They were not giving us any assistance at all. We were in the process of moving to national trying to get them to help," Swanton said.
Monday morning, the restaurant's management partner in Waco, Jay Patel, issued a statement saying in part:
"Our management team has had ongoing and positive communications with the police and we will continue to work with them as we all want to keep violent crime out of our businesses and community."
Swanton called the statement "absolutely fabrication. It was a lie."
A short time later, Twin Peaks corporate headquarters announced it was revoking the Waco restaurant's franchise contract.
"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," said Twin Peaks spokesman Rick Van Warner.
Prior to the restaurant's franchise agreement being revoked, the Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission had suspended the establishment's liquor license for seven days.
The suspension was issued under Section 11.61(d) of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code, which allows the commission to temporarily suspend a business' license to sell alcohol following a "shooting, stabbing or murder that has occurred on the licensed premises which is likely to result in a subsequent act of violence." While the suspension is not an accusation of wrongdoing on the part of Twin Peaks, the restaurant is prohibited from selling alcohol during the seven-day period.
"Our investigators will continue to work with the Waco Police Department to collect statements from any party involved, especially the restaurant staff," said Maj. Victor Kuykendoll, TABC District 2 regional commander. "We will continue to investigate the operations of the restaurant to determine if they failed to properly manage the folks on the premises and enabled this event to take place."
Once the seven-day suspension is up, the restaurant is allowed to resume normal operations, pending the results of the ongoing investigation. The investigation could take several weeks to complete.
It was unclear when, or if, the owner would reopen now that the franchise agreement with Twin Peaks' corporate office has been revoked.
As of Monday afternoon, police remained on the scene processing evidence, which included 100 motorcycles and about 75 cars belonging to victims and suspects.
The scene is expected to stay active through nightfall.