One Year Later, Looking for Answers on the Deadly Waco Biker Shootout

A new CNN documentary tries to untangle that fateful day.

By Rhonda FanningMay 16, 2016 11:07 am,

It’s been a year since the deadly biker shootout in a Waco Twin Peaks restaurant. Nine died, and more than two dozen people were injured. Of the 177 arrested, each were held on bond for $1 million. Ultimately 157 people were charged, but there have been no trials.

The media did get hold of video footage of the shootout from start to finish, and slowly, new information has trickled out throughout the year. But it’s been extremely difficult to reconstruct exactly what happened on that Sunday in Waco.

Ed Lavandera sets out to do just that Monday night, in an hour-long special on CNN. Lavandera and his team have been reporting on the shootout for some time. He says although the shootout didn’t last very long, it was incredibly crazy.

“The … videos that came out back in October – it didn’t really show the beginning of the altercation. It showed the patio shots from the cameras inside the Twin Peaks restaurant, which in many ways spoke volumes too,” he says. “You see guns being thrown across the floor, one guy shooting wildly out into the parking lot. You definitely got a sense of just how intense that scene was.”

He says another video, which shows the beginning of the melee through a different camera angle, reveals something new every time he watches it. But Lavandera says many people, even those who were in the middle of the firefight, are still trying to unravel exactly what happened that day.

“What has happened since then is something that has just completely baffled many people and angered many people,” Lavandera says. “Many, many lives have been affected by what has happened and the way everything has been handled.”

Although many of those arrested are out of jail, Lavandera says they still have this dark cloud hanging over them.

“They’re trying to figure out where to take their lives next and they’re pretty much in limbo,” he says.

“Biker Brawl: Inside the Texas Shootout” airs tonight on CNN at 8 p.m. Central Standard Time.

Prepared for web by Beth Cortez-Neavel.