San Ysidro McDonald's massacre
The San Ysidro McDonald's massacre occurred on July 18, 1984, when James Oliver Huberty, a former security guard, entered a McDonald's restaurant in San Ysidro, California, and opened fire, killing twenty-one people and injuring nineteen others. Huberty, who had a history of mental health struggles, had been fired from his job shortly before the shooting and displayed troubling behavior leading up to the incident, including a disturbing remark to his family about "hunting humans." Armed with multiple firearms, he executed patrons indiscriminately, primarily targeting those in a predominantly Hispanic community. Law enforcement, initially assuming multiple shooters were involved, eventually neutralized Huberty after he had fired over 250 rounds.
Following the tragedy, the McDonald's building was demolished, and a community college was built on the site, accompanied by a memorial. The incident prompted significant changes in law enforcement protocols regarding active shooter situations and sparked discussions around gun control measures in California. It also led to a reevaluation of mental health services and highlighted the need for better support for individuals struggling with severe mental health issues. The massacre remains a pivotal moment in the history of gun violence in the United States, marking one of the first mass shootings at a public venue in the country.
San Ysidro McDonald's massacre
The Event A seventy-seven-minute shooting rampage at a fast-food restaurant leaves twenty-one people dead
Date July 18, 1984
Place San Ysidro, California
Because of the high death toll, the familiarity of McDonald’s, and the random nature of the attack—the killer had no grudge against the franchise or any of the customers, made no demands, and espoused no agenda—the San Ysidro McDonald’s massacre stunned the nation, as it suggested a new kind of vulnerability.
A single gunman—a forty-one-year-old former security guard named James Oliver Huberty —killed twenty-one people and wounded nineteen others during his rampage at a McDonald’s restaurant. The dead and wounded, Wednesday-afternoon patrons of the restaurant, included men, women, and children. Huberty, who had graduated with a degree in sociology from an Ohio Quaker college and worked as a welder for fourteen years, had drifted through various menial jobs before arriving in early 1984 in San Ysidro, California, two miles from the Mexican border. He worked as a condominium security guard but was fired ten days before the shootings. Concerned about his own depression and mood swings, Huberty contacted a mental health clinic but never received a call back.
On the morning of July 18, Huberty settled a minor traffic ticket. He took his wife and two children to a different McDonald’s (they frequently ate there) and then to the San Diego Zoo. They left early because of the heat. After returning home, he casually informed his wife, “I’m going to hunt humans.” He drove to the nearby restaurant, arriving around 4:00 p.m., with a nine-millimeter Browning automatic pistol in his belt and a twelve-gauge Winchester shotgun and a nine-millimeter Uzi semiautomatic machine gun across his shoulders. Once inside, he ordered the stunned patrons, mostly Hispanic, to get down on the floor and began executing them, showering the restaurant with indiscriminate gunfire. When the police arrived, they assumed that there were several shooters (Huberty fired more than 250 rounds). Shortly after 5:00 p.m., an employee escaped out a back door and informed the special weapons and tactics (SWAT) commandos that there was only one shooter and no hostages. Everyone else was either wounded or dead. The SWAT team reacted quickly, and sharpshooter Chuck Foster killed Huberty with a single chest shot.
Impact
In the wake of the massacre, McDonald’s razed the building and gave the land to the city, which built a community college on the site after erecting a memorial. Investigators never accounted for the rampage. Huberty’s widow filed a lawsuit against both McDonald’s and the Ohio factory where Huberty had welded. She claimed the food’s monosodium glutamate and the factory’s airborne toxins had slowly poisoned Huberty. Forensic pathologists, however, suggested Huberty might have been a paranoid schizophrenic.
The shootings were unprecedented in the United States. The closest parallel event had been the 1967 University of Texas clock tower shootings. As a result of the incident, police agencies reconsidered their policy of using violence only as a last resort in hostage situations. California politicians launched unprecedented (and largely unsuccessful) attempts to ban assault rifles. McDonald’s set a standard for corporations victimized by random crime: It settled victims’ injury claims, covered funeral costs, and provided counseling. Mental health facilities reevaluated overworked clinics, and forensic psychologists examined Huberty’s antisocial behavior and his wife’s failure to respond to his chilling comment before leaving for the restaurant.
Bibliography
Fox, James Alan, and Jack Levine. Extreme Killing: Understanding Serial and Mass Murderers. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage, 2005.
Ramsland, Katherine. Inside the Mind of Mass Murderers. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2005.