Days after a biker shootout at a Texas restaurant, the same group that organized the motorcyclists’ meeting that turned violent received a proclamation from the Waco City Council designating May as “Motorcycle Safety and Awareness Month.”
The council issued the proclamation Tuesday, two days after nine people were killed in the shootout at a Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco. The proclamation was to be presented to Steven Cochran on behalf of the Confederation of Clubs, which had organized the Sunday biker meeting, but Cochran decided not to attend the City Council meeting, Waco City Secretary Esmeralda Hudson said Friday.
Cochran declined an interview with The Associated Press on Friday, but posted a picture of the proclamation on his Facebook page. In his post, he said he and Sandra Lynch accepted the proclamation in absentia.
Lynch couldn’t attend because she is one of about 170 people who were arrested after Sunday’s shootout. She remains jailed on a charge of engaging in organized criminal activity.
Investigators have said the shooting began during an apparent confrontation between two rival motorcycle gangs, then spilled into the parking lot. Police said they returned fire after being shot at.