An attorney claims that a Colorado Department of Corrections officer fired his gun during a brawl at a Denver motorcycle show that broke out on Saturday, according to the Associated Press. John C. Whitfield, who is representing one of the motorcycle gangs in court, stated that the officer fired in self-defense and is not currently being held in custody.
The fight broke out at the Colorado Motorcycle Expo between the Mongols Motorcycle Club and the Iron Order Motorcycle Club, with the latter group largely being made up of off-duty military personnel and law enforcement officers, according to Reuters. One man was shot and killed during the riot and seven others were injured.
Whitfield, who is defending the Iron Order Motorcycle Club and is a member himself, claims that the group acted in self-defense after being surrounded and verbally attacked with racial slurs by the Mongol Motorcycle Club, according to Reuters. The two groups are blaming each other for the incident, with Mongols attorney Stephen Stubbs claiming that the Iron Order members taunted the Mongols into an argument and that "none of the Mongols involved in the altercation had a gun, not even one of them," according to the Chicago Tribune.
The Mongols Motorcycle Club is known by authorities and some of its members were charged in a large-scale racketeering investigation in 2008, but Stubbs claims that the members that were present at the expo had nothing to do with that case, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Stubbs stated that he believes that few details are being released surrounding the case because of the number of law enforcement officials who are members of the Iron Order group, but police spokesperson Raquel Lopez claimed that the lack of information was due to investigators looking into what happened, according to the Chicago Tribune. No arrests have been made at this time.
