192 arrested after deadly biker shootout in Texas

Waco Police say 192 people were arrested on Monday morning following a deadly biker gang shootout in a restaurant parking lot Sunday.
Nine people were killed and 18 injured when rival biker gangs opened fire in the Twin Peaks parking lot.
All of the 192 people arrested on Monday morning will face charges of engaging in organized crime, according to a statement from the Waco Police Department.

See also: 9 dead after argument between rival biker gangs ends in shootout; death toll may rise

More than 200 people people had gathered at a restaurant in Waco on Sunday when a dispute heated up and spilled into a nearby parking lot, with bikers shooting at each other and battling openly with chains, clubs and bats. The interior of the restaurant was littered with bullet casings, knives, a club, bodies and pools of blood, said Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton.
Swanton said it was "amazing" that bystanders had not been injured as many families were having Sunday lunch at an nearby restaurant.
The restaurant where the shooting took place will be closed for seven days, according to police, who said the location was "still a very active crime scene this morning."
"Our investigation will continue throughout the day. Crime scene is littered with bullets, blood and other evidence. Civilian as well as Police units with bullet holes remain to be processed," read a post on the Waco Police Facebook page.

Still a very active crime scene this morning at Twin Peaks. Our investigation will continue throughout the day. Crime...
Posted by Waco Police Department on Monday, May 18, 2015

Police had been monitoring a meeting between biker gangs at the location when the violence erupted shortly after noon inside the Twin Peaks restaurant and then spilled out into the busy parking lot of the shopping center along Interstate 35. According to police, members of at least five rival gangs had been gathered for a meeting.
"We knew there was going to be trouble at this biker event," Swanton said. Waco police had its "best, most well-trained officers" on the scene, which he credited with keeping the number of dead relatively low.
"We believe [the dead] individuals are members of criminal biker gangs," Swanton said in a press conference Sunday.

People at the Central Texas MarketPlace watch a crime scene near the parking lot of a Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco, Texas.

Image: Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune-Herald via AP/Associated Press

Parts of downtown Waco were locked down, and officials stopped and questioned motorcycle riders. Agents from the FBI and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were assisting local and state authorities in the investigation.
Police and the operators of Twin Peaks were aware of the meeting in advance, Swanton said, and at least 12 Waco officers in addition to state troopers were outside the restaurant, part of a national chain that features scantily clad waitresses, when the fight began.
Officers shot armed bikers, Swanton said, adding that the actions of law enforcement prevented further deaths. It wasn't immediately clear whether any of the nine dead were killed by police officers.