My husband is a WA member (not a gang member) who happens to be a veteran, and I can tell you that many in the club are veterans. In Texas and some of the other states there are many Hispanic members, too.
I cannot comment on what has happened. Real information is sketchy and many who would be considered witnesses were arrested...Rico don't ya know. That pretty much gives law enforcement carte blanche. Club members know their rights and will not speak to police, and likely not the biased press. What is interesting, though is what information is in the press, mostly through police sources. It looks like the police knew that a meeting was planned and showed up well-armed. Apparently a fight started inside, but went outside...normal behavior to take a problem outside. Could have been because some hothead got in someone's face, or a plant for all we know.
We also know that the owner of the establishment is biker friendly. He should not be malined because of it. Many business owners know that MC club members are good paying customers.
The dead are Bandidos and Cossacks from what we understand. It is also understood that the restaurant is full of shell casings and blood...interesting if the fight went outside. Perhaps the police know how that happened.
I find it highly unlikely that any bonifide club members would want to have a "dangerous" meeting or "recruitment" at a restaurant at a shopping mall. That's not how things go. First there are hang-arounds and then they become prospects. Bandidos are not desperate for members and only want guys that will be good "brothers" and are well vouched for. The stories make it sound like there is some kind of open recruitment contest. Baloney.
I also know that when my husband and others were returning to WA after a national meet across the country (at a private property where they mind their own business) and crossed into Idaho, State Troopers pulled them over for an alleged traffic infraction. They were held at the side of the highway while one trooper started to search them and a very young trooper kept a military grade AR-15 on them the whole time. Dogs were brought in to sniff all their stuff. One of the older members was handcuffed and put in the back of the patrol car with the windows up on a very hot day because the trooper said he smelled like marijuana. He did, but he also has a medical marijuana card. Many people drove by and took pictures. The troopers found nothing except proper gun permits because the Bandits know the laws and try very hard to stay on the right side of them. They were tired and on their way home to their families.
If that young trooper had panicked because someone reached in their pocket to grab a hankie...who knows what might have happened, but then we would have to depend on the cops version of events.
That takes me back to the "melee" in Waco. The crime scene is being processed by high level law enforcement. They have ample opportunity to make sure the scene fits their narrative and agenda.
I would caution everyone here.
= new reply since forum marked as read
as it was first stated incorrectly by the OP
