Waco police believe the grisly biker brawl Sunday that left nine dead and dozens more injured never had to happen.

Officers say they asked Twin Peaks, a bikini sports bar franchise, to not host the biker meet-up at all, but restaurant management wouldn’t cooperate.  Sunday night, owners of the Twin Peaks franchise took to Facebook, saying they were "horrified" by the violence and promised to work with police. By Monday, that Facebook page had been taken down.

"The first and most important lesson is if you have a police department asking for your assistance as a business, you ought to pay attention to that,” Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton with the Waco Police Department said. “If you don't, bad things can happen, as exampled here.”

The TABC has issued a seven-day suspension of the restaurant's license to sell alcohol as it conducts its own investigation. The corporate offices of Twin Peaks issued this statement saying in part, "We will not tolerate the actions of this relatively new franchisee and are immediately revoking their franchise agreement. Our sympathies continue to be with the families of those who died and are very thankful no employees, guests, police officers or bystanders were hurt or injured."

Waco police promise to look into the possibility of criminal charges against the restaurant as well. Local officers say they're no stranger to problems with motorcycle gangs at Twin Peaks. In fact, when the violent fight began, they were ready for it.

"We had been here over the past two months because of the problems we've had with biker gangs at Twin Peaks," Swanton with Waco Police said. "I can tell you that we were there within seconds."

Eighteen officers, including SWAT and four DPS troopers, were on site Sunday. Around noon, rival gang members got into a fight in the bathroom that quickly spilled out into the restaurant and eventually outside.

Among the weapons used in the fights were chains, clubs, brass knuckles and handguns.

"They're not here to drink beer and eat barbecue,” Swanton said. “They came with violence in mind and were ready for it."