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Biker gang shoot out in Waco, TX

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AJLma

Member
Woah, just heard about this.

This might explain the dozens of bikers I saw on the move yesterday in Corpus. Must've seen at least 3 groups yesterday, and none today. Creepy.
 
Woah, just heard about this.

This might explain the dozens of bikers I saw on the move yesterday in Corpus. Must've seen at least 3 groups yesterday, and none today. Creepy.

Yeah I saw a group of about 12 bikers headed in the direction of Waco direction today. Probably a coincidence but who knows.
 

YoungHav

Banned
Biker gangs have always been a threat and seen as a threat just like any street gang. The problem is that just like any street gang they are protected by the first amendment which is why they operate so freely. The same with the white supremacists and anti-government militias. They are always a threat but until they do something illegal and are caught, law enforcement cannot do anything.
The NYPD is rather lax with the Hell's Angels. I've seen them blatantly slang and they are left alone for the most part. They are always intimidating anyone that stops momentarily in front of their parked motorcycles (cab drivers/delivery vehicles). It's an unwritten rule that some parking spots in the neighborhood are reserved for their bikes only and they will get violent with folks who break that rule. The 3yrs I lived in their neighborhood, the only time the cops went HAM on them was when they beat down a woman who tried to fight one of the biker's gals. I'm sure the Clubhouse, and its members, would be treated differently if it were inhabited by Crips or Bloods.
 

Metaphoreus

This is semantics, and nothing more
I was going to mention this, I find it odd that these guys haven't been widely called "thugs"...

I'd rather we not derail the thread with this, but if we're going to have that discussion, we'd better be scientific about it. What are the sources that you think should have referred to the bikers as "thugs," and how many times do you think the word should have been mentioned by now? Please explain why you selected those sources and how you arrived at those numbers.
 
I know you're joking but this shit just happened to occur here. This is the spot on the interstate that was a close enough drive for those coming in. All those fools are not from Waco. We just had the privelidge of being located directly between two major metropolitan areas on a major interstate

It looked like it happened it at a pretty big retail area to, from the footage I saw there was tons of big chain retail stores in the background that looked fairly new. Earlier on the live stream they were saying tons of businesses and restaurants were closing down for the day (who knows if tomorrow or longer) because of it.

edit: guys, let's not derail the thread into a race thing.
 

Metaphoreus

This is semantics, and nothing more
Any updates?

Some comments from the restaurant owners and their franchisor:

A statement sent Sunday night on behalf of Jay Patel, operating partner for the Waco franchise, said, "Our management team has had ongoing and positive communications with the police," and added that the restaurant was cooperating with the investigation.

Swanton addressed Patel's statement late Sunday night, calling it a "fabrication."

Rick Van Warner, a spokesman for the Dallas-based corporate franchisor, said the company is reviewing the circumstances surrounding the shooting and is "seriously considering revoking" the Waco location's franchise agreement.

Van Warner said he couldn't address what the franchise owners "did or didn't do leading up to this," but added that the company is "very upset that clearly our standards of safety and security were not upheld in this particular case," he said.

Doug Greeness, a biker from Belton, Texas, was near the scene Sunday evening. He said he's a member of a family riding club and was waiting for friends to be released from custody so he could return home.

Greeness, who was not inside the restaurant when the melee broke out, described the event as a meeting of a biker association called the Texas Confederation of Clubs and Independents. He said the group meets to "discuss issues within the biker community."

There seems to be some real hostility between the cops and the restaurant management.

I especially like that last guy's comments. Guess this was basically just a business meeting gone wrong.
 

AxelFoley

Member
I'm almost positive thats from a movie. I've seen that image before.
Probably from Wild Hogs or something like that.

Anyways, come to Australia. We have a lot of biker gangs! Though, I knew a bunch of people whose family was in biker gangs in the states. One of my friends dad owns a tattoo parlor and they were a top customer of his.

You just don't hear about them much any more I guess. Other gangs are more rampant I guess....

Here they push a lot of drugs.


We're well familiar with your Aussie biker gangs:

tumblr_n9xntkuB2T1s755fuo2_1280.jpg
 

SyNapSe

Member
Twin peaks sounds like a weird place for this to go down. It's a chain knockoffs hooters ffs.

It does a bit. Still, when I saw the thread title, I thought, with all those big biker dudes there I bet they ran low on those huge chicken fried steaks. No doubt, this battle was over who got the last one!

A few other people have recommended it but that Under and Alone book is pretty good. What I learned from it is if you take potentially psychopathic violent personalities and get them hopped up on drugs.. stuff happens.
 

Ke0

Member
I'd rather we not derail the thread with this, but if we're going to have that discussion, we'd better be scientific about it. What are the sources that you think should have referred to the bikers as "thugs," and how many times do you think the word should have been mentioned by now? Please explain why you selected those sources and how you arrived at those numbers.

They had a shootout? I mean if Richard Shermand can be a thug for smack talking during an competitive event surely these biker members are thugs in every sense of the word no? I imagine a lot of smack talking went down.
 

Hylian7

Member
I'd rather we not derail the thread with this, but if we're going to have that discussion, we'd better be scientific about it. What are the sources that you think should have referred to the bikers as "thugs," and how many times do you think the word should have been mentioned by now? Please explain why you selected those sources and how you arrived at those numbers.

They had a shootout? I mean if Richard Shermand can be a thug for smack talking during an competitive event surely these biker members are thugs in every sense of the word no? I imagine a lot of smack talking went down.

Pretty much the second quote. There's no "number of times they should be referred as thugs" or any crap like that, I'm just pointing out how the word "thug" has become a racially charged word at this point, and the fact that the word is hardly being used to refer to these people is pretty telling of that. Granted, they have been called "worse" things, like I have seen them referred to as "skinheads", even though they aren't white supremacists, but the point still stands that when people define the word "thug" they define it as violent criminals, like these, and yet it is hardly being applied here.
 
Pretty much the second quote. There's no "number of times they should be referred as thugs" or any crap like that, I'm just pointing out how the word "thug" has become a racially charged word at this point, and the fact that the word is hardly being used to refer to these people is pretty telling of that. Granted, they have been called "worse" things, like I have seen them referred to as "skinheads", even though they aren't white supremacists, but the point still stands that when people define the word "thug" they define it as violent criminals, like these, and yet it is hardly being applied here.

I am just going out on a limb here but seeing how the term "biker" already lends itself violence and crime I'd assume that's why they weren't called thugs in this case.
 

Hylian7

Member
I am just going out on a limb here but seeing how the term "biker" already lends itself violence and crime I'd assume that's why they weren't called thugs in this case.

Fair enough, I still think it's a double standard worth looking at though.

It is interesting though that the police are blaming the Twin Peaks management though. I'm not sure telling a group of these guys "No you can't come in." would go over well, but at the same time, maybe there was a different way to handle it.
 

soleil

Banned
I am just going out on a limb here but seeing how the term "biker" already lends itself violence and crime I'd assume that's why they weren't called thugs in this case.
The term biker does not imply violence at all.

How about the reason why they weren't called thugs is because of racist attitudes by the people who use the word "thug" whenever it's black people involved?
 

Cagey

Banned
The term biker does not imply violence at all.

It doesn't? When I think biker, I think biker gangs and the violent bullshit attendant to that association.

When I think of friends of mine who ride bikes, I don't think to call them bikers, because they're not in biker gangs.
 

PopeReal

Member
From a cop on an interview I just saw on MSNBC, "while police are being slammed across the country, these off duty officers ran into gunfire to help protect citizens and fellow officers"....

Jesus fucking Christ. No really. Jesus fucking Christ please will cops like these just shut the FUCK UP.

They just don't fucking get it. They don't get why (some) Americans are upset that police are targeting and killing those very citizens he just quoted as saying they are there to protect. This is why I have very little faith in things changing. Look at this fucking idiot cop who just had to take a stab at people who *GASP* dare to complain about police killing innocent, unarmed people.

And guess what? BRAVO to cops responding to a fucking gunfight between stupid fucking idiot biker gangs. I would certainly hope that police would be there. All snarkiness aside, much respect to those officers who were involved. I certainly didn't run through a hail of bullets this week. But don't use an event that you are supposed to respond to as justification to bitch about the current focus on police corruption, abuse, and murder. It is like we get scolded for even wanting to have the conversation.

/End rant.
 

Hylian7

Member
From a cop on an interview I just saw on MSNBC, "while police are being slammed across the country, these off duty officers ran into gunfire to help protect citizens and fellow officers"....

Jesus fucking Christ. No really. Jesus fucking Christ please will cops like these just shut the FUCK UP.

They just don't fucking get it. They don't get why (some) Americans are upset that police are targeting and killing those very citizens he just quoted as saying they are there to protect. This is why I have very little faith in things changing. Look at this fucking idiot cop who just had to take a stab at people who *GASP* dare to complain about police killing innocent, unarmed people.

And guess what? BRAVO to cops responding to a fucking gunfight between stupid fucking idiot biker gangs. I would certainly hope that police would be there. All snarkiness aside, much respect to those officers who were involved. I certainly didn't run through a hail of bullets this week. But don't use an event that you are supposed to respond to as justification to bitch about the current focus on police corruption, abuse, and murder. It is like we get scolded for even wanting to have the conversation.

/End rant.

Totally agree, I've seen a lot of stuff like this on FB.

Waco PD handled this pretty well, but that doesn't make the police in the rest of the country, and even Waco PD, immune to criticism.
 

soleil

Banned
It doesn't? When I think biker, I think biker gangs and the violent bullshit attendant to that association.

When I think of friends of mine who ride bikes, I don't think to call them bikers, because they're not in biker gangs.
I guess it's subjective and hard to quantify who thinks of violence and who doesn't. But to use that as an excuse on why "thug" isn't used? Pretty weak logic.
 

ObiDin

Member
I guess it's subjective and hard to quantify who thinks of violence and who doesn't. But to use that as an excuse on why "thug" isn't used? Pretty weak logic.

9 dead, 18+ injured, 150+ arrested and we're arguing over whether or not they are referred to as "thugs"?
 

Hylian7

Member
9 dead, 18+ injured, 150+ arrested and we're arguing over whether or not they are referred to as "thugs"?

Just saying it's something worth bringing up. I know it's not the main topic at hand here, but it is still worth discussing. I mean what would you rather us argue over, whether the term "biker" is a term referring to criminals or not?

I mean it's like how people argued about the word "thug" during Ferguson, Baltimore, etc.
 

ObiDin

Member
Yes, because it shows insane hypocrisy in the media reporting it. It should be called out.

Look, I haven't read the entire thread and I've only watched one news report, but they are being called "biker gang members" to which I attribute as "bad people". What is the specific hang up about the term "thugs"? I would have no problem with the bikers being called thugs. Is the problem only with how it is being reported?
 

Hylian7

Member
Look, I haven't read the entire thread and I've only watched one news report, but they are being called "biker gang members" to which I attribute as "bad people". What is the specific hang up about the term "thugs"? I would have no problem with the bikers being called thugs. Is the problem only with how it is being reported?

Here's what people are pointing out about "thugs": When do you typically see that term used?

When you see the answer for that, you'll see the problem here.
 

soleil

Banned
9 dead, 18+ injured, 150+ arrested and we're arguing over whether or not they are referred to as "thugs"?
If we were paramedics on the scene, or anyone else whose actions could affect it, we would be doing our jobs instead. Since we're news consumers not affecting the scene... yes we are discussing society's issues, and racist attitudes is a societal issue.
 

ObiDin

Member
If we were paramedics on the scene, or anyone else whose actions could affect it, we would be doing our jobs instead. Since we're news consumers not affecting the scene... yes we are discussing society's issues, and racist attitudes is a societal issue.

Ok, just going to quietly back out of the obviously heated discussion. Was just surprised at the discussion being about a term not used instead of the horrible shooting that just took place.
 

soleil

Banned
yeah but 'biker gang' does.
So does the term "street gang" and that doesn't prevent anyone from using the term "thugs" when discussing black street gangs. But when discussing primarily white biker gangs, the term "thugs" is curiously missing.
 

Metaphoreus

This is semantics, and nothing more
They had a shootout? I mean if Richard Shermand can be a thug for smack talking during an competitive event surely these biker members are thugs in every sense of the word no? I imagine a lot of smack talking went down.

Pretty much the second quote. There's no "number of times they should be referred as thugs" or any crap like that, I'm just pointing out how the word "thug" has become a racially charged word at this point, and the fact that the word is hardly being used to refer to these people is pretty telling of that. Granted, they have been called "worse" things, like I have seen them referred to as "skinheads", even though they aren't white supremacists, but the point still stands that when people define the word "thug" they define it as violent criminals, like these, and yet it is hardly being applied here.

The point is, if we're going to compare two sets of data, we're going to need--at the very least--two sets of data. First you two need to establish that "thug" is being used less in this context in the places where you'd expect it to be used, and then we can start questioning why that is. Y'all are just skipping to step 2 without doing the work necessary to substantiate that a gap even exists.
 

soleil

Banned
The point is, if we're going to compare two sets of data, we're going to need--at the very least--two sets of data. First you two need to establish that "thug" is being used less in this context in the places where you'd expect it to be used, and then we can start questioning why that is. Y'all are just skipping to step 2 without doing the work necessary to substantiate that a gap even exists.
They just did... in the post you quoted.

Black football player threatening to make a play on a football = gets called thug.

White biker gang shooting and killing = no use of the word "thug."

Also, my personal go-to comparison to Richard Sherman is Justin Bieber, who was in the news about the same time as Sherman's rant. Biber vandalized a neighbor's home causing $20k in damage, and he also punched a limo driver in Canada... people didn't call him a thug. They called him a misguided kid who needs a stronger father figure.
 

andycapps

Member
So does the term "street gang" and that doesn't prevent anyone from using the term "thugs" when discussing black street gangs. But when discussing primarily white biker gangs, the term "thugs" is curiously missing.
Thugs is much less descriptive than "biker gang member" though I'd have no problem with the term thug being used for these guys.
 

soleil

Banned
Thugs is much less descriptive than "biker gang member" though I'd have no problem with the term thug being used for these guys.
It's also less descriptive than "street gang" and yet it still gets thrown around when street gangs are discussed...
 

Hylian7

Member
That... seems unreasonable. Was the restaurant recommended to close for the day? Other than that I don't really see what they could've done.

I talked to a friend that's been a manager at a much smaller video game store franchise that's in Texas, and he has said that generally a franchise agreement can't be revoked unless there was a breach of policy. It may be that Twin Peaks corporate was fed something that we don't know.
 
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