35th anniversary of San Ysidro McDonald's massacre

[left-of-center2012]

Memorial event being held on 35th anniversary of San Ysidro McDonald's massacre

SAN YSIDRO, Calif. (CNS) - Southwestern College will hold a memorial event at its Higher Education Center in San Ysidro on Thursday to mark the 35th anniversary of the McDonald's shooting that left 21 dead and 19 others injured.

The event will feature a community resource fair, a memorial ceremony and a student artwork display at the college's Higher Education Center, which is located at the former site of the McDonald's restaurant. The center also has a memorial with 21 hexagonal pillars representing each of the shooting's victims.

The shooting is the seventh-deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history and was the deadliest mass shooting ever committed in the U.S. at the time. The gunman, who lived roughly 200 yards from the San Ysidro restaurant, was killed by a sniper with the San Diego Police Department. The victims ranged in age from eight months to 74 years old.

The event is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. with the community fair at the Higher Education Center at 460 W. San Ysidro Blvd. The ceremony, which will feature testimonials about the shooting, will begin at 11 a.m. with a presentation of art by local students following at 11:30 a.m.

https://www.10news.com/news/local-news/memorial-event-being-held-on-35th-anniversary-of-san-ysidro-mcdonalds-massacre

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. I've just been reading about that on Wikipedia.

I was thinking that this must have been the first of the modern mass shootings.

San Ysidro McDonald's massacre

The San Ysidro McDonald's massacre occurred on July 18, 1984, when 41-year-old James Huberty fatally shot 21 people and wounded 19 others in a mass shooting at a McDonald's restaurant in the San Ysidro neighborhood of San Diego, California, before being killed by a police sniper.

The shooting ranked as the deadliest mass shooting committed in the United States until the 1991 Luby's shooting in Killeen, Texas, and is now the seventh-deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.

Chain of events

Prior to incident

On July 15, 1984, James Huberty commented to his wife, Etna, that he suspected he might have a mental problem. Two days later, on the morning of July 17, he called a mental health clinic requesting an appointment. Leaving his contact details with the receptionist, he was assured the clinic would return his call within hours. According to his wife, he sat quietly beside the telephone for several hours, awaiting the return call, before abruptly walking out of the family home and riding to an unknown destination on his motorcycle. Unbeknownst to Huberty, the receptionist had misspelled his name as "Shouberty." His polite demeanor conveyed no sense of urgency to the operator; therefore, she logged the call as a "non-crisis" inquiry, to be handled within 48 hours. Approximately one hour later, Huberty returned home in a contented mood. After eating dinner, Huberty, his wife, and their two daughters (aged 12 and 10) cycled to a nearby park. Later that evening, he and Etna watched a film together on their television.

The following morning—Wednesday, July 18—Huberty took his wife and daughters to the San Diego Zoo. In the course of the walk, Huberty told his wife that he believed that his life was effectively over. Referring to the mental health clinic's failure to return his phone call the previous day, he said, "Well, society had their chance." After eating lunch at a McDonald's restaurant in the Clairemont neighborhood of San Diego, the Hubertys returned home.

Shortly thereafter, Huberty walked into his bedroom as his wife lay on the bed tired from the heat of the day. He changed his clothing by putting on a red T-shirt and green camouflage slacks. He then leaned toward her and said, "I want to kiss you goodbye." Etna asked him where he was going, to which he replied he was "going hunting... hunting for humans." Carrying a bundle wrapped in a checkered blanket, Huberty looked toward his elder daughter, Zelia, as he walked toward the front door of the family home and said, "Goodbye. I won't be back." He drove down San Ysidro Boulevard. According to eyewitnesses, he drove first toward the Big Bear supermarket and then toward a U.S. Post Office branch, before entering the parking lot of a McDonald's restaurant about 200 yards (180 m) from his apartment.

Shooting

At approximately 3:56 p.m. on July 18, Huberty drove his black Mercury Marquis sedan into the parking lot of the McDonald's restaurant on San Ysidro Boulevard. In his possession were a 9mm Browning HP semi-automatic pistol, a 9mm Uzi carbine, a Winchester 1200 12 gauge pump-action shotgun, and a cloth bag filled with hundreds of rounds of ammunition for each weapon. A total of 50 customers were present inside the restaurant.

{snip}

[Aristus]

4. it was certainly the first large-scale gun massacre I had heard of at that point.

I was fifteen.

I had read Stephen King's novel "Rage", written under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, not long before. It relates the story of school shooting, and I was horrified to see the parallels.

[maveric]

2. I lived a mile away from that carnage at that time.

Got home from work and saw several helicopters over the area. Turned on the news and found out what was happening. Terrible.

[left-of-center2012]

3. I was living in San Diego at the time.