Waco Residents Respond To Biker Gang Gunfight--"Where Are You Safe At?" (Mug Shots, Video)

The brawl left a scene of carnage along a quiet strip on Sunday afternoon. 

What started as a physical fight in the bathroom at the Twin Peaks Bar and Grill around 12:15pm spilled out into the bar and rapidly escalated to involve chains, clubs, knives and gunfire on a quiet strip.

Employees and diners, including young children, scrambled and many took shelter in the freezer as hundreds of gang members ran on a rampage around the booths, according to KXXV. 

In the parking lot, a SWAT team shot dead at least one biker and surrounded the rest. When the shooting ended, bodies were scattered across the tarmac and cars were riddled with bullet holes. On Monday, officials said that some of the nine killed may have been shot by responding police officers. 

‘In 34 years of law enforcement, this is the worst crime scene, the most violent crime scene that I have been involved in,’ Waco police Sgt W Patrick Swanton said at a Sunday press conference. ‘There were dead everywhere, blood everywhere.’

He also turned on the restaurant, Twin Peaks, for failing to let officers in to monitor the situation.

‘If you have a police department asking for your assistance as a business, you ought to pay attention to that,’ he said on Monday. ‘If you don’t bad things can happen, as evidenced here today.’ 

On Monday it emerged that Twin Peaks company has revoked the franchise agreement for the Waco restaurant.

‘We will not tolerate the actions of this relatively new franchisee and are revoking their franchise immediately,’ the company said.

The company, which has 13 restaurants in Texas, blamed the restaurant’s managers who ‘chose to ignore the warnings and advice from both the police and our company, and did not uphold the high security standards we have in place to ensure everyone is safe at our restaurants’.

Swanton added that the restaurant would not be able to serve alcohol for the next week but added he hoped the restaurant would choose to close its doors during that time as a sign of respect to the community.