It was just another hot summer afternoon some 28 years ago when the quiet and calm of Hackettstown turned into pure mayhem when two biker gangs converged at the Elks Lodge on Mountain Avenue. 

Robert Ford, writing for The Star-Gazette, at the time the area’s go-to weekly newspaper, would note that “When the short but bloody battle was over, there were two dead and three wounded.”

July 17 started innocently enough with the Tri-County Motorcycle Club holding a fundraiser for charities at the Elks Lodge. According to police reports around 3:40 p.m. members of the Pagan Motorcycle Club showed up. Soon after trouble started with a burst of gunfire.

Hackettstown police were first on the scene, followed by backup from other departments and the state police. Some combatants were arrested or detained immediately, some were given medical attention, and others fled on foot. A helicopter circled above Hackettstown searching for more participants. 

Meanwhile, diners at McDonald’s and the now defunct Burger King, both right near the Elks Lodge, sought refuge. At Friendly’s customers wondered what all the commotion was about.

Within hours media, print and TV, from throughout the tri-state descended on Hackettstown.

The Warren County Prosecutor at the time, John O’Reilly, would later hold a press conference, side by side with then Hackettstown Police Chief Len Kunz (now a Hackettstown Councilman). State Assemblyman John DiMaio was the town’s Mayor at the time and ironically was with Kunz at a picnic when the fight first erupted.   

None of the dead or injured were from the Hackettstown area. 

A few days later, The Star-Gazette front page headline would blare, “Gunfight at the EL-K Corral” and included three pages of extensive coverage and exclusive photos taken at the scene. Within a few hours of hitting the newsstands, The Star-Gazette was sold out.