http://onabike.com/motorcycle-news/waco-shooting-may-2015-press-release/
Thanks for the reference to that press release about the other club starting a fight.
I’m guessing one of the Cossacks started it by saying “We collected more for Toys for Tots than you did!” to a Bandito. The Bandito responded by saying “Oh yeah. Well I’m a multimillonaire oil exec - and I donated over $300,000 to charity last year.”
At that they both pulled out their nail clippers, and the SWAT team, seeing the weapons, opened up with their sniper rifles and .50 caliber machine guns mowing down the crowd.
What I find interesting in the discussions on this event is the polarizing effect it has on freepers. Either ALL bikers are the bad guys, and the cops can do no wrong - or the bikers are good guys and the cops ambushed them in order to slaughter them.
It sounds like these meetings are usually frequented by a mix of biker clubs. Sounds like mostly decent guys with some percentage of criminals. With the criminal element keeping limits on their criminal behaviour. (A neighbor of mine is friends of some Banditios, and says yes they do deal in drugs and murder - and also do the Toys for Tots drives).
And for whatever reason, it sounds like the other gang (Cossaks?) were going to overstep that boundary of keeping the violence “in-house”, and try to provoke something in a public place. And the cops were aware of it.
And in spite of the cops trying to prevent it with their huge visible presence - the gang still started something. (And people calling it a police ambush - parking all the vehicles out in the open sounds like a really stupid way to run an ambush).
One other thing in my long ramble. The idea of saying all the bikers are bad is similar to many of us often linking all of the blacks in some photo of the rioting as bad, or all the people of the middle east as bad (”nuke the place, turn it to glass”).
While it may make us feel good in a sense of enacting some type of justice or revenge - it really isn’t justice, and sure doesn’t make for a sustainable policy.
Oh - one more comment. I wonder if some think the police shouldn’t have even been there - that the cops were the ones that added to the problem. Sort of like the mayor of Baltimore saying “We’ll give them some room to destroy.”
“What I find interesting in the discussions on this event is the polarizing effect it has on freepers. Either ALL bikers are the bad guys, and the cops can do no wrong - or the bikers are good guys and the cops ambushed them in order to slaughter them.”
I agree. But it is FR.
“And for whatever reason, it sounds like the other gang (Cossaks?) were going to overstep that boundary of keeping the violence “in-house”, and try to provoke something in a public place. And the cops were aware of it.”
Here is a basic scenario as I have glimmered from several articles.
Bandidos run Texas
Bandidos kill to keep HA out of Texas
HA’s are supporting the Cossacks against the Bandidos.
Cossacks have refused to acknowledge that only Bandidos can wear the Texas lower rocker in their colors and a feud has been going on for over a year.
Bandidos not only run Texas but have all the power slots in the Texas Coalition of Clubs and Independents which serves to ‘keep the peace’ in Texas.
Cossacks are not members of the Texas coalition.
Texas CoC decides to hold meeting in Waco. There are no Bandidos in Waco, only Cossacks. This is a major in your face.
Over 50 Cossacks show up at the meeting wearing the Texas lower rocker. This is a major in your face to the Bandidos.
Banditos say Cossacks attacked.
Cossacks say Bandidos attacked.
Other bikers attacked say a big fight broke out.
Waitresses say a fight and shooting broke out. One said she saw at least 30 guns drawn.
I have heard no bikers from Waco say that the police attacked.
No matter how good you are at chess, the pigeon is just going to knock over all the pieces, crap on the board, and strut around the table looking victorious.
I would extend that to "discussing something with Gator". Maybe we can use the poo for fertilizer...
This is the first detailed account I have seen from an ‘eyewitness’.
This is the account of the president of a north Texas chapter of the Cossacks. He says they were set up by the Bandidos.
You might find this interesting. I have posted it to several ‘interested parties’ but so far silence.
Cossacks leader says they were set up by Bandidos. His account indicates that most if not all the dead Coassaks were killed by Bandidos. Certainly explains why eight dead Cossacks and only one dead Bandido.
Conforms to surveillance video and police reports about shots to the head.