Live

US

|

Society

Two killed, three wounded in Ohio biker-gang shootout

A gun battle between two rival motorcycle clubs on Saturday afternoon left two men dead and three others injured in Ohio.

schedule

Ohio police are investigating the scene of a shooting, June 18, 2016. (WKBN)

A deadly shooting in northeast Ohio has left two people dead and at least three others wounded, authorities say.

The shootout happened on Saturday between two local biker gangs in the parking lot of a bar in Warren Township, some 55 miles southeast of Cleveland.

The Brothers Regime and FTW,  the two rival biker gangs, got into a fight after one gang interrupted the other’s bike run at the bar, officials said.

“Based on what we’ve gathered so far, one was having a bike run, another one stepped in and it appears the people who were already here… started with the other group. They wanted respect or something and the next thing you know we got shots fired. Two of them got shot close range,” Warren Township Police Chief Don Bishop said.

Bishop said the gangsters used “automatic weapons” and “hand guns” during the shootout. “We think we have everything under control,” he added.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol is conducting air and ground search to find a possible suspect. No other information was available Saturday.

“I’ve never seen anything happen down here. Nothing where cops were called. Just really shocked,” said local neighbor Nick Pawcio.

The incident came on the heels of the Orlando massacre when a gunman stormed the Pulse Club on June 12, killing 49 people and injuring 53 others at the nightclub.

The gunman, identified by US media as an alleged Daesh sympathizer named Omar Mateen, a US citizen of Afghan descent, took hostages at the club and barricaded himself in the complex but was later killed by specially trained SWAT units.

The mass shooting was the worst in US history.