OFF THE WIRE
agingrebel.com
The Los Angeles Times and the Winter Springs, Florida police are
saying today that the fatal shooting in a VFW parking lot yesterday resulted
from a confrontation between the two Warlocks Motorcycle Clubs. Both clubs were
founded in the late 1960s.
The smaller of the two clubs was founded in 1967 by members of an Upper
Darby, Pennsylvania fraternal organization called the Warlords. Upper Darby is
in the general vicinity of Southwest Philadelphia. Those Warlocks wear a
mythological, Greek monster called a Harpy on their backs. That club has
maintained generally cordial relations with both the Pagans Motorcycle Club and
the American Outlaws Association.
The larger of the two clubs was founded aboard the aircraft carrier
Shangri-La in 1967. The bigger club’s mother chapter is in Orlando, Florida and
those Warlocks wear a War Eagle on their backs. They have had multiple
nationally known disputes with the Outlaws. The Orlando based Warlocks have been
the subject of at least two major ATF investigations in Florida and Virginia in
the last ten years. The lead agent in the Florida investigation was Deputy
Assistant Director Steve Martin. The lead agent in the Virginia investigation
was Special Agent Darrin Kozlowski.
There are multiple one percenter motorcycle clubs in Florida including the
Warlocks, Outlaws, Mongols and Pagans.
According to published reports, the Harpy Warlocks established a chapter in
Seminole County, Florida last Spring.
The Shooting
The violence broke out about 10:40 Sunday morning at a VFW Post in Winter
Springs where the War Eagle Warlocks and friends of that club were assembling
for a charity ride. Winter Springs is about 15 miles from Orlando. A reported
six members of the Harpy Warlocks rode into the VFW parking lot and a gunfight
almost immediately erupted. Police said “at least 30 shots were fired.”
Witnesses described as many as 50 shots.
Police do not know who shot first. “We are still ascertaining who is
affiliated with what,” Winter Springs Lieutenant Doug Seely said at a press
conference this morning. “We’re still trying to sift through that.”
Two men named Harold Liddle and Peter Schlette were killed and another man
named David Jakiela was seriously wounded. Jakiela is in critical condition at
the Orlando Regional Medical Center.
Police seized 13 guns, 13 knives, multiple motorcycles and one SUV at the
crime scene. At today’s press conference Lieutenant Seely said four men had been
arrested for suspicion of homicide and attempted homicide. Those men are named
Victor Amaro, Robert Eckert, David Maloney, and Paul Smith. Smith is a member of
the Florence, South Carolina chapter of the War Eagle Warlocks. The Aging
Rebel has not determined the club affiliation, if any, of Amaro, Eckert or
Maloney or of any of the three victims.
