A gun battle between rival motorcycle gangs at a Nevada hotel-casino killed the head of a California chapter of the Hells Angels and prompted the city to shut down its share of a biker festival because it feared more violence.
Sparks Deputy Police Chief Brian Allen said Jeffrey Pettigrew died late Friday in the shootout with members of the Vagos club at John Ascuaga's Nugget hotel and casino in this northern Nevada city. Two Vagos members are in stable condition.
Pettigrew was in charge of the Hells Angels' chapter in San Jose, Calif.
Sparks was on edge amid fears of retaliation. Mayor Geno Martini says a drive-by shooting just hours after the fatal gunfight was apparently such an attack.
Martini has canceled the city's share of a biker festival this weekend. He also declared a state of emergency to help speed state assistance if backup law enforcement is needed.
Police said the brawl erupted between armed members of the Hells Angels and Vagos motorcycle clubs shortly before midnight Friday.
The drive-by shooting early Saturday came near the venue for the rally, Street Vibrations. Police gave no information on whether anyone was hurt in that shooting.
Bikers, many with beards and clad in leather jackets, had converged on Sparks and nearby Reno for the popular fall motorcycle event. Many were staying at the Nugget. Hotel officials declined to comment on the incident.
Rod Manning from Oregon, sitting with his wife at a Starbucks in the hotel lobby in a sleeveless Harley-Davidson shirt, bemoaned the violence.
"One percent of people make it bad for the other 99 percent," he said.
'Bound to happen'
Another biker, who was staying in the hotel and who had been on an upper floor when the shooting erupted, said tensions were mounting between biking rivals for several days.
"It was bound to happen," biker Don Gilbert told Reuters. "It's ridiculous ... All the regular bikers shake their heads. It's nonsense."
The restaurant and part of the casino floor were roped off on Saturday as police inspected the area and workers in yellow gloves scrubbed the floor. Nearby, gamblers including motorcycle enthusiasts played slot machines and mingled.
"It's a tough situation, I hope people out there won't judge the motorcycle community by the incident last night," Martini told a news conference.
"Whenever you have people enter our city with bad intentions, bad things are going to happen," he said.
The shooting came in a spate of fatal incidents this month in normally quiet northern Nevada.
On Sept. 6, a gunman with a history of mental illness opened fire at a pancake house in Carson City, the state capital, on Sept. 6. Three National Guard soldiers and a civilian were killed in that attack and seven others were wounded before the gunman killed himself.
Then last week, a World War Two-era fighter plane crashed into box seats near the grandstands at an air race in Reno, killing 11 people in the worst accident in the history of the annual event.
