The Killing 

      This story is about violence on the street and the incompetence of the legal system, particularly the district attorney’s office. It’s summertime in Fort Worth, Texas, 1984. I was working the evening shift on the east side at the Fort Worth Police Department. I’d just finished a call with my buddy Rusty Wilson. The call involved a domestic dispute and we managed to get out of there without any difficulty. After the call we found an empty parking lot and pulled up beside each other to talk.

      Unbeknownst to us, a situation was brewing at a biker bar around the corner. It was a bad ass biker bar occupied by the Bandidos motorcycle gang. The place was rockin on this night and there was a good crowd. One of the Bandidos hierarchy had heard rumors a member of the gang was having crazy sex with his girlfriend. He figured out who it was and watched as the party went on. He saw the guy and his girlfriend head to the parking lot. He ran to his motorcycle and grabbed a twelve-gage shotgun.

     The guy and the girlfriend were driving out of the parking lot in a light blue beaten up Ford station wagon. The mad biker ran into the middle of a busy four lane street and the car immediately stopped. He jumped on the hood of the car. The woman began screaming and the driver stared in amazement at the Bandido leader looking down at him. He was standing on the driver’s side of the hood. He pointed his shot gun at point blank range to the windshield and pulled the trigger. The blast went through the windshield and blew up the driver’s crotch. Blood splattered all over the interior. Everything in the car was blood red. The woman just sat there still screaming. The Bandido moved over to the passenger side of the car. The woman was now screaming for mercy. He again put the shot gun right at the windshield. He pulled the trigger, and the blast went through and blew her chest out. This time blood splattered instantly against the windshield.

      Both people bled out quickly and were dead. The Bandido jumped off the hood and ran towards his motorcycle. The other Bandidos at the party had already been heading for their bikes. The place was clearing out.

     Rusty and I heard the first shot as we were talking. After the second shot Rusty said, “That sounded close. We better go check it out.”

     We both pulled out of the parking lot and went towards the gunshots. As we came around the corner there was the light blue station wagon stopped in the middle of the street sitting at an angle. We both pulled up to the car with all our flood lights on. As we exited the cars and approached the blue station wagon, we started to see the carnage. Rusty and I heard in the background the fading sounds of motorcycles fleeing the club. The crime scene was grizzly. The guy had every major organ and artery in his mid-section blown away. There was blood everywhere and as I stood there looking at him, I thought, 'That had to be the worst pain in the world. Fortunately for him it was only for a second.'  

     Same thing with the girl. He blew her chest out. I mean there’s a hole in her chest that went almost clear through. She was gone instantly. It looked like the shooter was sending a message. He blew the guy's balls off and the girl's boobs off. Unfortunately, there were major organs and arteries behind those sexual symbols.

     We called everyone we needed to, Sargent, crime scene search, and the coroner. Rusty and I went up to the club to see if anyone saw anything, but everyone was gone. The only people there were two bartenders, and both were in the bathroom. They didn’t see anything.

     After a few days the detectives caught the shooter. He ended up getting ratted out because of a power struggle within the gang. They put him in the county jail in downtown Fort Worth until the arraignment. The Bandido leader couldn’t make bail, so he stayed in jail. 

     After some time in the county jail the Bandidos lawyer issued a motion for dismissal of charges due to the state's violation of the speedy trial act. The judge didn’t grant the lawyer’s motion but set a definite date the Bandido must be tried. The deadline for his trail came and went. Three days after the trial was supposed to start, he walked free. The Tarrant County district attorney didn’t file the papers in time. A free man, I often wondered what happened when he showed up at a Bandido party and they discovered he wasn’t going to prison. I have a feeling they all had a rough couple of days.