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On May 17, 2015, in Waco, Texas, a shootout erupted at a Twin Peaks restaurant where members of several motorcycle clubs (MC), including the Bandidos, Cossacks, and allies, had gathered for a regularly scheduled meeting about political rights for motorcyclists.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title='Gruesome crime': Police say 9 dead after Texas biker gang brawl )〕 Waco police, including a SWAT team, had gathered to monitor them from outside, and opened fire on the bikers after the shootout started. Nine bikers were killed, seven of them members of the Cossacks motorcycle club, while eighteen others were injured. ==Background== In 2014, the Texas Department of Public Safety had listed the Bandidos Motorcycle Club as a "Tier 2" threat, the same rating as the Crips, Bloods, and Aryan Brotherhood, but it did not evaluate the Cossacks.〔 That assessment said that the Bandidos Motorcycle Club "conducts their illegal activities as covertly as possible, and avoids high-profile activities such as drive-by shootings that many street gangs tend to commit."〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Unclassified Texas Gang Threat Assessment )〕 According to Steve Cook, executive director of the Midwest Outlaw Motorcycle Gang Investigators Association, an element of the dispute had to do with the right of Texas outlaw motorcycle clubs to wear jackets decorated with distinctive patches, including a geographic bottom rocker saying "Texas", indicating Texas as the territory of the club. The dominant Bandidos claimed the right to approve all such jacket bottom rocker patches.〔 A police affidavit released June 16 described the source of the conflict in similar terms.〔 Following the shootout, police spokesman Patrick Swanton said a turf war between the rival clubs may have been a factor in the deadly encounter. It allegedly started following the beating of a Cossack by Bandidos at a Toys for Tots event in Decatur, Texas on December 6, 2014, and the killing of a member of the Ghostriders MC the next week in Fort Worth. Skirmishes over the issue continued on March 22, 2015.〔 A police affidavit described fighting between Bandidos and Cossacks going back to November 2013, including brawls resulting in injuries, in Abilene, Palo Pinto County, and Lorena, Texas. Some of those previously injured bikers were arrested in Waco after the shootout on May 17.〔 On May 1, 2015, the Texas Department of Public Safety issued an advisory statement to police: "The conflict may stem from Cossacks members refusing to pay Bandidos dues for operating in Texas and for claiming Texas as their territory by wearing the Texas bottom rocker on their vests, or 'cuts.'" The shootout erupted at a regularly scheduled regional meeting of the Texas Confederation of Clubs and Independents (COC&I), the statewide biker club coalition, involved in political issues regarding the rights of motorcyclists.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title='Gruesome crime': Police say 9 dead after Texas biker gang brawl )〕 Based in Tyler, Texas, the coalition engages in a broad range of activities; for example, it was honored by the city council of Jacksonville, Texas, on May 14 for its involvement in Motorcycle Safety and Awareness Month.〔(【引用サイトリンク】publisher=Jacksonville Progress )〕 According to the police, most previous meetings of COC&I for that region had been held in Austin, Texas. COC&I has twelve regions, and Waco is in Region 1. The Bandidos are leading members of the COC&I while the Cossacks are not. The police affidavit claims that the Bandidos "wanted to have a show of force and make a statement that Waco was not a Cossacks' town". The police account states that, in response, the Cossacks "threatened that Waco was a 'Cossacks town' and nobody else could ride there" and they made "the decision to take a stand and attend the meeting uninvited".〔 Police were made aware of the meeting and had at least a dozen local officers plus state officers positioned nearby. The restaurant had agreed to host the meeting. Officers described the restaurant management as uncooperative when confronted with concerns about the meeting. Swanton said Twin Peaks had been unhelpful in helping police officers deal with gangs in the past. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「2015 Waco shootout」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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