Approximately 170 members of rival motorcycle gangs were charged with engaging in organized crime Monday, a day after nine people were killed and 18 others injured in a shootout at a Texas restaurant.
A Waco judge set bond at $1 million for many of the suspects. McLennan County Justice of the Peace W.H. Peterson defended the high amount, citing the violence that quickly unfolded in a shopping market busy with a lunchtime crowd.
"We have nine people dead, because these people wanted to come down and what? Drink? Party?" Peterson said. "I thought [$1 million] was appropriate."
Peterson also performed inquests on the nine dead bikers but declined to identify them pending notification of family. Peterson says all nine were from Texas.
The crowd of suspects was so large that authorities opened a convention center to hold them all before they were arrested, police said. Authorities added that it was too early to determine if any of the bikers would face murder charges.
Sunday's melee at the Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco drew a broad police response that included placing officers atop buildings and highway overpasses to watch for other bikers rushing to the scene to retaliate.
