Biker Gang Shootout in Texas

Rival gangs, the Bandidos and the Cossacks, had a shootout at a Twin Peaks restaurant Sunday afternoon in Waco, Texas. It started in parking lot at the restaurant. The bikers started shooting at each other, and then they turned fire on police officers. 8 dead people at the scene of the crime, one death in a hospital after, and 18 injured. 8 Cossacks and 1 Bandido were killed. No bystanders or police officers were injured. Police officers describe it as being one of the bloodiest scenes they have seen in the city.  Now more than 170 people have been charged and arrested for organized crime in connection with capital murder. This offense carries the death penalty. A judge set a $1 million bond on suspects on Monday.
Photo Source: Rod Avedlotte/Wace Tribune-Herald via AP 

12 police officers and SWAT teams were already on the scene when everything started because they had been tipped off earlier that a "gang recruitment" was going to take place.

The Bandidos are one of the oldest biker gangs in the US, so the Cossacks were probably trying to challenge the Bandido's dominance. The Cossacks might have had help with the Hell's Angels who are also the Bandidos rivals. The Bandidos and the Hell's Angels are among some of the outlawed biker gangs because they "pose a serious national domestic threat" to the safety of the public.

Comments from Allen:
With so many people dead, the police and general public will be wanting many involved to answer for this with their lives.  There is some difficulty in proving any particular individual had the specific intent to kill a particular person, with malice aforethought, in order to get a traditional conviction for capitol murder.  Thus, the police are looking to charge those involved with a racketeering or conspiracy-type charge, in which there is an agreement between those involved to jointly participate in a crime, and in the course of committing the crime people die.  This charge is much easier to prove and it appears the state will be looking for the death penalty in many of the cases.  I would not expect everyone involved to face the death penalty, but certainly the leaders (if they survived this bloodbath) will.

Allen Browning is an attorney in Idaho Falls, Idaho who handles personal injury and criminal defense. He has over 30 years of experience and handled thousands of cases. Allen work with cases from all over Idaho. Call (208) 542-2700 to set up a free consultation if you are facing legal trouble or you have been involved in an accident.
Also, check out browninglaw.net for more information about Allen and Browning Law.


Allen Browning can help with all personal injury claims including motor vehicle accidents, serious and disabling accidents, and wrongful death claims. Allen Browning can also help with DUI, Felony, Misdemeanor, Domestic Violence, Drug Crimes, Theft, Juvenile Crimes, Violent Crimes, and Probation/Parole Violations. He is one of the most experienced and successful criminal defense attorneys in Idaho.

Sources for more information:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeednews/dozens-charged-in-waco-texas-biker-battle-are-identified#.caZgarNdM1

http://www.buzzfeed.com/davidmack/waco-texas-biker-shootout#.fa30oQv2Er

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/05/18/police-report-multiple-fatalities-after-shooting-in-texas/

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/19/us/waco-texas-biker-gang-shooting.html?_r=0

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/18/waco-melee-192-arrests/27520997/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/police-say-170-arrested-after-deadly-biker-brawl-in-texas/2015/05/18/094c6e6c-fd91-11e4-833c-a2de05b6b2a4_story.html

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

7 Things Lawyers Can't Tell Jurors

Image
 It is a trial lawyer's job to educate jurors, and tell them what they need to know in order to decide cases. Despite this, there are many things, true things, that lawyers are not allowed to tell jurors directly in statements to the jury or indirectly through testimony of their witnesses. Lawyers know these things, though, and I thought you might like to know some of things. #1. A lawyer can't tell the jurors anything that happened during settlement negotiations. He cannot let the jurors know, when asking them to make the defendant pay his client $100,000 that the defendant agreed to pay him $80,000 prior to the trial. The reason for this is that you want settlement negotiations to be very open. You don't want to damage a negotiation session because someone is afraid that what they say will get repeated to a jury if you don't strike a deal. #2 In Idaho, a lawyer can't tell the jurors that the defendant has insurance. In many other states, he can. Bec
Read more

Man Framed by Prosecutor Released After 29 Years in Prison Seeking Lawsuit

Image
19 year old, Charise Kamps, was found raped and strangled to death in her apartment in June 1980. Ralph Armstrong told the police that both of them were at the apartment alone doing cocaine before leaving to go see friends around 9:30 pm. Police said that they learned that Armstrong owed Kamp's boyfriend $400 and witnesses saw Armstrong handing Kamps money that night. However, the money was not found in the apartment, and Armstrong deposited $315 in his bank the next day.The defense argued that he got the money from his brother. One of the neighbors saw a lean, muscular man about 5 feet 5 inches tall with long, dark hair drive up to the apartment. Before the identification process, the police had the witness hypnotized. He was shown a photograph of Armstrong, and After being hypnotized, the witness changed the height of the man he saw. Later at a lineup to have the witness select the man he saw, he chose Armstrong. The other people in the lineup were police officers in wigs
Read more

Tuesday Tip: Reid Interrogation Technique

Image
Various methods have been used in police interrogations to elicit a confession. By far the most popular method used for over seventy years is the Reid Technique. This interrogation method assumes guilty suspects can be identified from certain behavioral cues. It is said to be proven as highly effective at getting confessions; however, there has been criticism about it for many years because it has been linked to many wrongful convictions.  Around 25 percent of post conviction DNA exonerations have been associated with a false confession from authorities using the Reid Technique. Even one of the first cases in which John Reid used this technique turned out to be a false confession. More and more scientists and scholars are saying this approach is based on outdated psychology. There are several components incorporated in this technique, including room design and how the investigator conducts the interview. There are three spatial zones the investigators use, which can be seen in
Read more