Waco officers fired 12 shots during deadly biker fight: police

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[June 13, 2015]  By Lisa Maria Garza
 
 DALLAS (Reuters) - Three Waco police officers fired a total of 12 shots during a deadly battle last month at a restaurant in the central Texas city between rival motorcycle gangs that left nine people dead and 18 others injured, police said.

It was still unknown if any of those shots hit any of the dead or wounded in the fight that took place on a patio of the Twin Peaks restaurant among more than 100 bikers. The fight also spilled out into two parking lots, police said.

An additional 32 shell casings have been recovered from the scene that were fired from revolvers that did not belong to the 16 uniformed law enforcement officers at the restaurant, Waco Police Chief Brent Stroman told a news conference.

"We did not fire indiscriminately into the crowd," Stroman said.

At least 475 weapons have been found at the scene, including knives, brass knuckles, batons, tomahawks, chains with padlocks, stun guns, pepper spray and firearms, police said.

Some bikers have blamed police for escalating the violence. The nine killed all died from gunshot wounds, preliminary autopsies showed.

More than 170 people were arrested at the scene and held on organized crime charges relating to capital murder. Since then, about 30 have been able to post bond or win their release.

"Those people that went to jail that night, there was probable cause for that arrest," Stroman said.

Lawyers for those who remained in jail filed a petition last week seeking prompt bail hearings, saying state authorities are unlawfully dragging their heels in processing the group.

The petition filed in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals also seeks more judges to help speed up hearings set to start on June 16 for the group that has been jailed since May 17 on initial bond of $1 million each, a sum too high for most to pay.

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Authorities impounded 130 motorcycles and 91 other vehicles from the parking lot after the shooting. As of Wednesday, 52 motorcycles and 47 vehicles had been released back to their owners.

Separately, police have set up extra security for the Republic of Texas Biker Rally in Austin, the first major motorcycle rally in Texas since the deadly incident in Waco.

About 50,000 bikers are expected for the Texas capital rally that runs from Thursday through Sunday and has been held for about 20 years without major outbreaks of violence.

(Editing by Jon Herskovitz and Sandra Maler)

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