Waco video shows bikers running away as shooting starts Surveillance footage shown to Associated Press by Twin Peaks company as it argues deadly violence started outside restaurant premises A police deputy stands guard near a group of bikers in the parking lot of the Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco, Texas, after the shootings. A police deputy stands guard near a group of bikers in the parking lot of the Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco, Texas, after the shootings. Photograph: Rod Aydelotte/AP Associated Press in Waco Thursday 21 May 2015 07.46 BST
When gunfire erupted outside a Texas restaurant most of the leather-clad motorcycle riders watching the confrontation immediately ran away from the shooting. A few tried to direct people inside, crawling on all fours heading for safety.
One biker ran away with blood on his face, hands and torso. A woman could be heard screaming, “Oh my God!” Others yelled, “Get down!”
According to restaurant security video shown to the Associated Press, only one of the dozens of bikers was seen firing a gun from the patio of the Twin Peaks restaurant where nine people were killed on Sunday.
Waco police in the aftermath rounded up about 170 people, charged them with felony engaging in organized criminal activity and setting bonds at $1m.
Police spokesman Sergeant W Patrick Swanton declined to comment about the video on Wednesday. Swanton has said the people arrested were members of biker gangs with criminal elements that have been monitored by local authorities for months.
Waco biker shootout: police say 320 weapons, not 1,000, found Read more “They were not here to drink and eat barbecue,” Swanton said earlier in the week. “They came here with violence in mind.”
The video shows bikers on the restaurant patio ducking under tables and trying to get inside. At least three people were holding handguns.
Before the shooting, the inside of the restaurant appears to be mostly empty. Bikers and other patrons can be seen walking to the windows facing the parking lot, where most of the shooting happened, when the confrontation was apparently under way.
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When gunshots start at 12.24pm on the video most bikers, other patrons and staff immediately run away from the windows and into the restaurant’s interior. At least three people can be seen holding handguns.
One camera angle shows bikers running into the men’s bathroom. When there’s no space left in the bathroom they dash toward the kitchen.
The Associated Press was shown the video on Wednesday by representatives of the Twin Peaks franchise, who have said the fighting began outside the restaurant, not inside as police have said. The franchise has not released the video publicly, citing the ongoing investigation.
None of the nine video angles shows the parking lot.
Video shows police with assault rifles entering the door about two minutes after the shooting begins. As two officers enter, bikers can be seen lying on the floor with their hands spread.
Before the shooting at least 20 members of the Cossacks biker gang can be seen on the patio. Members of the Scimitars, Boozefighters and Leathernecks can also be seen on the tape. While no Bandidos are immediately visible, police and one member of that biker gang have said some of their members were at the event.
Among those arrested was Theron Rhoten, who showed up at the Twin Peaks restaurant for a regional motorcycle club meeting. But, according to his wife, he soon found himself in the middle of a deadly shootout involving scores of other bikers.
Katie Rhoten said her husband ran for cover and was later arrested, along with motorcycle-riding friends and other “non-violent, non-criminal people”.
Police have said that all those arrested were part of criminal motorcycle gangs. But based on court records and a search of their names in a database maintained by the Texas Department of Public Safety, only five of the nine people killed had criminal histories in Texas.
Police have acknowledged firing on armed bikers but has not yet been made clear how many of the dead were shot by gang members and how many were shot by officers.
