Because of a tip that there might be trouble between rival biker gaxxx, two
undercover cops parked their unmarked vehicles near the Winter Springs VFW hall
Sept. 30.
One snapped dozens of photos, the other shot video of bikers as they came and went from the starting point of a "poker run," a fund-raiser for homeless veterans.
But six minutes before a gunfight that would leave three bikers dead, both officers left.
They pulled away, following three motorcycles to what they believed would be the next stop on the poker run — according to just-released records and Winter Springs police Chief Kevin Brunelle — so both were out of position when the violence began.
By the time the officers returned, the shooting was over. Two men were dead and another was dying, all of them members of the Warlocks, a biker gaxxx that had humiliated some of the shooters and cast them out, prompting them to set up their own tiny renegade group.
Four members of that splinter group, called the Philly Warlocks – although they have no affiliation with the Warlocks - are in the Seminole County Jail, each awaiting trial on three counts of second-degree murder.
Prosecutor Stewart Stone has called what happened that morning an ambush, set up by the Philly Warlocks.
Michael LaFay, who represents defendant David "Tin Man" Maloney, the biker who organized the fund-raiser and fired several shots that morning, says his client acted in self-defense.
Rivalry turns deadly
The day before the shooting, a Winter Springs police investigator who had been tipped off about the fund-raiser asked Maloney if he expected trouble, according to records obtained by the Orlando Sentinel following a public records request.
Maloney gave an ambiguous reply that hinted at the possibility. Co-defendant and Philly Warlock Robert William Eckert told police that a day before the event, Maloney told him to expect 100 members of the rival Warlocks.
But instead of 100, just five showed up. They wheeled their Harleys into the VFW parking about 10:40 a.m. They had two handguns between them.
The people already at the VFW had 15 or more.
One of the five Warlocks who survived, 40-year-old Ronnie A. Mitchell of St. Cloud, had $800 cash in his pocket. He had collected that money to donate to the cause that day: homeless military veterans, according to a police report.
Some of the men on opposing sides knew and hated each other, they told police.
Paul Wayne Smith, 47 of Effingham, S.C, is a member of the Philly Warlocks and now charged with three counts of murder. He admitted to firing the first shot that morning, according to a phone call recorded Oct. 19 while he was in the Seminole County Jail.
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-11-20/news/os-warlocks-evidence-20121120_1_warlocks-three-bikers-chief-kevin-brunelle
One snapped dozens of photos, the other shot video of bikers as they came and went from the starting point of a "poker run," a fund-raiser for homeless veterans.
But six minutes before a gunfight that would leave three bikers dead, both officers left.
They pulled away, following three motorcycles to what they believed would be the next stop on the poker run — according to just-released records and Winter Springs police Chief Kevin Brunelle — so both were out of position when the violence began.
By the time the officers returned, the shooting was over. Two men were dead and another was dying, all of them members of the Warlocks, a biker gaxxx that had humiliated some of the shooters and cast them out, prompting them to set up their own tiny renegade group.
Four members of that splinter group, called the Philly Warlocks – although they have no affiliation with the Warlocks - are in the Seminole County Jail, each awaiting trial on three counts of second-degree murder.
Prosecutor Stewart Stone has called what happened that morning an ambush, set up by the Philly Warlocks.
Michael LaFay, who represents defendant David "Tin Man" Maloney, the biker who organized the fund-raiser and fired several shots that morning, says his client acted in self-defense.
Rivalry turns deadly
The day before the shooting, a Winter Springs police investigator who had been tipped off about the fund-raiser asked Maloney if he expected trouble, according to records obtained by the Orlando Sentinel following a public records request.
Maloney gave an ambiguous reply that hinted at the possibility. Co-defendant and Philly Warlock Robert William Eckert told police that a day before the event, Maloney told him to expect 100 members of the rival Warlocks.
But instead of 100, just five showed up. They wheeled their Harleys into the VFW parking about 10:40 a.m. They had two handguns between them.
The people already at the VFW had 15 or more.
One of the five Warlocks who survived, 40-year-old Ronnie A. Mitchell of St. Cloud, had $800 cash in his pocket. He had collected that money to donate to the cause that day: homeless military veterans, according to a police report.
Some of the men on opposing sides knew and hated each other, they told police.
Paul Wayne Smith, 47 of Effingham, S.C, is a member of the Philly Warlocks and now charged with three counts of murder. He admitted to firing the first shot that morning, according to a phone call recorded Oct. 19 while he was in the Seminole County Jail.
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-11-20/news/os-warlocks-evidence-20121120_1_warlocks-three-bikers-chief-kevin-brunelle