A shooting between two rival motorcycle gangs, the Mongols and the Warlocks, broke out March 8 at a RaceTrac gas station in New Smyrna Beach.
Nearly four months later, the FBI, the 7th Circuit State Attorney’s Office, the Volusia Sheriff’s Office and other agencies arrested 28 Mongols linked to the shooting in “Operation Mongolian Beef.”
A multi-agency press conference was held July 2, where agency representatives including Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood, announced the arrests.
See livestream footage of the press conference, video of the FBI raid of Port Orange home and crime scene photos of the Bike Week shooting below.
See inside ‘Operation Mongolian Beef,’ which led to arrests of 28 Mongol MC members
Watch FBI raid Port Orange home in connection to New Smyrna Beach March 8 shooting
Who was arrested Wednesday, July 2, in connection to New Smyrna Beach biker gang shooting?
Twenty-eight members of the Mongols motorcycle gang were taken into custody July 2 in a multi-agency operation between the FBI Jacksonville Division, Volusia Sheriff’s Office and the Seventh Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office, according to the FBI. Three additional arrest warrants were issued for Mongols gang members.
The individuals were charged with aggravated rioting related to the March 8 gas station shooting in New Smyrna Beach during Bike Week.
The FBI and partners executed 14 search warrants at the Mongols Clubhouse in Edgewater; four homes in Volusia County; three homes in Brevard County; two homes in Miami-Dade County; a home in Chesterfield County, Virginia; a home in Palm Beach County; and two homes in Polk County.
Aggravated rioting is a second-degree felony and punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
See Mongols vs. Warlocks Bike Week shooting crime scene in New Smyrna Beach
What happened in the New Smyrna Beach shooting between Mongols and Warlocks March 8?
The Bike Week shooting happened at a RaceTrac gas station at 3000 State Road 44 in New Smyrna Beach between the Mongols and the Warlocks.
Chitwood described Clinton Neal Walker as the “state rep” for the Mongols. Walker was arrested the day of the shooting. Chitwood said the incident began after the Mongols saw that the Warlocks were at the gas station.
“Within 10 minutes, they leave their clubhouse in Edgewater and they are in the NSB location. And they flood the area. They ring the Warlocks and then all hell breaks loose,” Chitwood said.
Two Warlocks were shot. They sustained minor injuries and declined to cooperate with deputies, Chitwood said during the press conference July 2.
“The difficulty was you had no victim, right? You had two people shot that were Warlocks that refused to cooperate,” Chitwood said. “You had people in their cars who their vehicle was shot up refused to cooperate.”
But he said investigators had a lot of cellphone videos from people in cars and at the gas station and investigators reviewed the cellphone videos to build their cases.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Mongols MC bust: Watch FBI raid Port Orange home, Volusia Sheriff share operation details
Reporting by Ashley Ferrer and Frank Fernandez, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
