Warren cops shut down bike club in wake of killing

WARREN

A large group of law-enforcement officers armed with a battering ram and body armor busted open a reinforced back door to the Forever Two Wheels motorcycle “gang” clubhouse Friday morning to remove anyone inside and board up the building.

Nobody was inside the Chestnut Avenue Northeast building, probably because the club’s members are lying low to avoid becoming the target of retaliation from the rival Brothers Regime motorcycle club, said Warren Law Director Greg Hicks.

The president of FTW, David Bailes Jr., 45, is charged with two counts of murder, accused of killing two members of the Brothers Regime last Saturday at Shorty’s Place, a bar on Highland Avenue in Warren Township. Bailes and two Brothers Regime members were wounded by some of the 30 rounds of gunfire.

Avoiding retaliation is a key objective of law enforcement, which is why Hicks and the Warren Police Department requested a temporary restraining order and permanent injunction Thursday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court, Hicks said.

Judge Andrew Logan approved the temporary restraining order late Thursday, Hicks and other officials announced Friday morning at the Warren Police Department.

The reason for closing the club, as reported exclusively Friday in The Vindicator, is that the double homicide and two other crimes carried out by FTW members in recent years qualifies the group as a criminal gang that can be closed down as a nuisance under Ohio law, Hicks said.

Read more about the situation in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.