Monday, May 25, 2015

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Police Shootout at Confederation of Clubs Meeting in Waco, TX.


Information about this past weekends "shootout" in Waco, Texas, is starting to flow. Currently 170 people from various clubs from all over Texas have been arrested and are being held on $1 million bond.  It would appear merely being at the scene of a crime or heading toward a scene of a crime has become a criminal act.  People have been charged with engaging in organized criminal activity (Title 11. Chapter 21. Organized Crime.) in connection with capital murder.  Conspiracy and organized crime charges are complicated enough but now we are to believe that 170 individuals conspired to kill nine men?  The current story tells of simple altercation that escalated to gun play, hardly the elements of conspiracy to commit murder.



The police press conferences and entertainment news coverage has referred to a meeting of the Confederation of Clubs of Texas as a "gang recruitment event", and as in Baltimore, once again, the police reference the mysterious "credible threats to law enforcement" as if to justify expanding the net of probable cause across all of Texas.  



Those among the arrested runs the gambit from known MC club members, to  former San Antonio vice cop, and pre-1970 builder club, Vise Grip MC from Austin, Texas (Vise Grip MC blog).  The Confederation of Clubs Texas and Bandidos MC President  statements contradict the claim by police of a mysterious "credible threat" towards law enforcement.  Nine people have been killed.  News sources report, as many as, four men were shot by the state (CNN claims four men were shot by police), whereas the police have only stated that four officers fired at the crowd.   Various police agencies ranging from local police to ATF were already at the scene prior to any altercation based on intelligence about a "gang recruiting event.".  Apparently the Waco police believe the management at Twin Peaks restaurant are to blame for the shooting.  

The New York Times article is a fairly good article concerning this past weekend and the write successfully humanizes those involved.  Having to humanize people is an unfortunate reality.

And as always, stayed tuned into the Aging Rebel.