‘Then you heard the next volley’: Red River residents react to weekend shooting

RED RIVER — The streets were quiet Sunday evening in this Northern New Mexico town, a sharp contrast from a day earlier when thousands of motorcyclists and tourists filled the roadways and businesses for the 41st annual Red River Memorial Day Motorcycle Rally.

But a deadly shootout Saturday evening changed all that.

On Sunday, police in Red River had set up a checkpoint and were checking driver’s licenses before cars entered town.

The owner of Pikes Peak Indian Motorcycle, one of the vendors at the rally, said city officials on Sunday pulled his permit, preventing him from continuing to do business because of the shooting.

Other vendors selling items along Main Street in Red River were seen taking down their stands, as well. Several bars and restaurants were closed when they would otherwise be busy.

Locals said they noticed on Thursday and Friday that Bandidos and other motorcycle clubs were flaunting their colors throughout town during the rally. Bandidos, who wear red and gold or yellow, arrived in droves.

Even before the shooting, at least one bar and restaurant had signs posted outside that they don’t allow people inside who are wearing emblems and colors affiliated with different motorcycle clubs.

Mike Robinson, who lives in Red River, was outside of Texas Reds, a bar and restaurant on Main Street that passes through Red River, when shots rang out just down the street.

He said he saw police officers running in one direction, and dozens of motorcycle riders with colors identifying themselves as Bandidos fired up their bikes and started riding in the opposite direction.

“I knew something was up when I saw everybody rolling out (of the bar) with intentions,” Robinson said.

A security guard, who asked not to be named, working at a nearby restaurant said he heard the shooting and saw a man fall to the ground in the middle of Main Street through town. He said he helped panicked people run into the restaurant he was working at to take cover.

The guard said he didn’t register the sound of the first gun shot that rang out, because he assumed it was a motorcycle backfiring.

“Then you heard the next volley, pop, pop, pop, then hear screaming and people running,” he said.

Robinson said he noticed lots of people wearing clothing showing their affiliations with different motorcycle clubs throughout the week. Red River is a small town with just over 500 permanent residents, and many of the locals took notice, he said.

“There’s a lot more people in town, and a lot more attitudes,” he said Sunday.

While crowds had thinned Sunday, dozens of police officers patrolled the main drag through town.