Musician Talks About Melee Between Motorcycle Gangs That Left Singer In Coma
By Rick Sallinger
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ARVADA, Colorado (KCNC) — July 11, 2020, is a night the Denver band ‘Nightwolf’ will always remember. They were playing at Jake’s Roadhouse in Arvada when rival motorcycle gangs got in a deadly dispute. The band members were taking a break when they heard popping noises outside.
“Our singer Ryan went out to have a cigarette,” said Nightwolf founder and lead guitarist Jay Halpern.
“He noticed somebody had been shot and had fallen over on his motorcycle and he went over there to help him.”
He says says the singer, Ryan McPherson, was either hit with motorcycle helmet or shot because his skull was fractured. Police say he was also run over by a motorcycle.
William Kelly Henderson, a member of one of the gangs was killed during the melee. Several others were injured.
“We knew it was going to be a big thing because these guys were driving around shooting each other on a public street.”
“We were more worried about Ryan,” Halpern told CBS4.
Halpern said McPherson was in a coma for a long time afterward, but came out of it and is playing music again, although not with the band. And a year and a half later, the Nightwolf band is still playing Jake’s.
Now, following an extensive investigation, 10 members of a notorious motorcycle club have been arrested.
Arvada Police headed the investigation with assistance from federal and local law enforcement organizations across the country. The arrests took place in four states.
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