Oct. 01--WINTER SPRINGS -- Two people are dead and one was left critically injured after gunfire erupted Sunday outside a VFW post where members of a motorcycle club had gathered for a charity fundraiser, authorities said.
The shooting happened at Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4504 on Edgemon Drive at about 10:40 a.m., according to Lt. Doug Seely, a Winter Springs police spokesman.
Bystanders at the scene said members of the Warlocks motorcycle club were about to depart on a charity run before the shooting. According to Seely, a confrontation in the parking lot preceded the shooting.
Two people were confirmed dead, he said, and a third person was taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center in critical condition. Seely said authorities think all three victims were motorcycle-club members.
Winter Springs police taped off the neighborhood adjoining the post and evacuated people from a senior center next door. Authorities did not say whether they thought there was a single shooter or more.
"We have a lot of crime scene," Seely said. "We have a lot of people detained and a lot of weapons detained, and we're ascertaining what matches what."
Several men in biker gear, including one in a Warlocks jacket, were handcuffed and questioned after the shooting. It was not clear how many people were at the post at the time of the shooting or how many shots were fired.
Representatives of the VFW post and the Warlocks could not be reached for comment.
The Warlocks motorcycle club has military ties going back to its founding in the late 1960s. According to the group's website, the first chapter was founded in the Lockhart area of Orange County by Navy veteran Tom Grub shortly after he left the service.
Today, the club has chapters not only in Central Florida but around the U.S., England and Germany, the website says.
The Warlocks have made headlines around the region several times in recent years:
-- In August, the club's Melbourne headquarters was destroyed by a suspicious fire.
-- In February, a Windermere police officer was fired after authorities learned that he had been a member of the Warlocks and had a history of drug arrests.
-- A year ago, three men thought to be Warlocks were removed from a Winter Park movie theater during a showing of "Machine Gun Preacher" after one of them was reported to be carrying a knife.
-- In February 2011, a probationary member of the group was sentenced to life in prison for a 2009 shooting in Orange County.
-- In 2003, an undercover operation by the ATF resulted in 34 arrests of Warlocks and Hell's Angels in six states, including Florida.
Copyright 2012 - Orlando Sentinel
