On July 18, 1984 James Huberty walked into a McDonald’s in the San Ysdro area of San Diego, he shot and killed 21 people and injured 19 others. He was shoot dead. It ranked as the deadliest mass shooting in the United States until 1991.

THE BEFORE

It was July 15, 1984 three days before the shooting, John Huberty made a comment to his wife that he thought he might have mental problems and then two days he requested a appointment with a mental health clinic. He left contact details with the receptionist who promised him within a few hours he would get a call. He sat next to the phone waiting for a few hours. He then got feed up and walked out riding into the distance on his motorcycle. Unknown to him the receptionist put his case down as non-crisis and it would take up to 48 hours for a reply the also spelt his name wrong so he would never receive a reply.

A hour later he returned home and ate dinner with his wife and two daughters and then they headed out to cycle to a nearby park and later he and his wife Etna watched a film together.

The next morning Huberty, his wife and two daughters headed two San Diego Zoo. When walking around the zoo Huberty told his wife that his life was over. He said that “Well, society had their chance” he was talking about the clinic. They then when for lunch at a McDonald’s in the Clairemont neighborhood of San Diego. Afterwards they headed home. A little while later Huberty walked into his bedroom to see his wife he leaned over to her and whispered “I want to kiss you goodbye.” She asked him where he was going, to which he replied he was “going hunting 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.”

The shooting

It was 3:56 pm on July 18 James Huberty pulled up into the car park of the McDonald’s restaurant in San Ysidro Boulevard. He had a 9mm Browning HP semi-automatic pistol, a 9mm Uzicarbine, a Winchester 12 gauge pump-action shotgun, and a cloth bag filled with hundreds of rounds of ammunition for each weapon. Inside the restaurant sat 45 customers unknown to them was there fatal fate.

Huberty walked in to the restaurant and pointed hit shotgun at a 16 year old employee named John Arnold. Huberty pulled the trigger and nothing happened. The assistant manager, 22 year old Neva Caine came over while Huberty was inspecting his gun he believed it was a joke. Huberty then fired his shotgun at the ceiling of the restaurant and then aimed his Uzi at Caine shooting below her left eye, she died moments later.

After killing Caine, Huberty fired his shotgun at John Arnold wounding him then he yelled something like “Everybody on the ground.” When ever Huberty refereed to anyone present in the restaurant he would call them “dirty swines.” He stated that he had killed thousands and intended to kill a thousand more.After hearing this comment and seeing the pain he had caused one customer ,25-year-old Victor Rivera, tried to persuade Huberty not to harm anyone else, his response was to shoot her 14 times, repeatedly shouting “Shut up” as Rivera screamed in pain.

As the customers hide under tables and service booths, Huberty took interest in a group of 6 women and children huddled together. He shot 19 year old Maria Colomenero-Silva in the chest, then he shot 9-year-old Claudia Perez in the stomach, cheek, thigh, hip, leg, chest, back, armpit, and head with his Uzi. Next victim was her sister, 15 year old Imelda he shot her once in the chest. Then he turned to 11 year old Aurora Pena who was wounded in her leg as her pregnant aunt, 18 year old Jackie Reyes, Huberty shot her 48 times with the Uzi. His next victim was 8 month old Carlos Reyes who he shouted at and shot in the back with a pistol.

Next to come into Huberty’s view was a 62 year old trucker, Laurence Varluis, he was shot. He began shooting people who were seated as he walked to the ones who were hiding underneath the booth. Ronald Herrera shielded his boy with his body and the boy was not seriously wounded but he was shot eight times in the stomach, chest, arm, and head and survived as his wife was killed by gunshots to the head.

Two women tried hiding underneath a booth Guadalupe del Rio, 24, was against a wall shielded by her friend, 31-year-old Arisdelsi Vuelvas Vargas. Del Rio was hit several times in the back, abdomen, chest, and neck, but was not seriously wounded, Vargas received a single gunshot wound to the back of the head. At another booth, Huberty killed 45-year-old banker Hugo Velazquez Vasquez with a shot to the chest.

At 4:00 pm the police received a phone call, the dispatcher sent the responders to a a McDonald’s three miles away. It took a further 10 minutes for them to arrive at the correct restaurant. They called a lock down on the area within six blocks away from the restaurant. The police set up a command post two blocks away and 175 officers were deployed to strategic locations around the restaurant. They were joined by SWAT within a hour.

A few moments after the first 911 call Lydia Flores pulled up at the food pick-up window and noticed the shattered window and heard the sound of gunfire, she looked up and saw Huberty shooting. She reversed her car and it hit a fence. She and her two year old daughter hide until the gun shots stopped.

Three 11 year old boys rode their bikes into the west parking lot of the McDonald’s before hearing someone yell something which they did not understand, Huberty shot all three with his Uzi and shotgun. Joshua Coleman fell to the floor with wounds in the back, arm, and leg, noting Omarr Alonso Hernandez was on the ground with multiple gunshot wounds to his back and had started vomiting; David Flores Delgado, had received several gunshot wounds to his head. Coleman survived; Hernandez and Delgado both died at the scene.

An elderly couple, Miguel Victoria Ulloa (74) and Aida Velazquez Victoria (69), were walking into the restaurant. Miguel reached to open the door for his wife, Huberty shot Aida in the face killing her and he wounded Miguel, he then started to curse at Huberty and killed him by shooting him in the head.

At 4:10 Astolfo and Maricela Felix drove to one of the service areas, spotting shattered glass they thought it was renovation work and that Huberty was a repair man. Huberty fired his shotgun and Uzi at the couple and their 4 month old daughter Karlita. He struck Maricela in the face, arms and chest making her blind in one eye and permantly disabling one arm. Astolfo was hit in the chest and head. Astolfo and Maricela staggered away from the car giving there baby to a fleeing woman yelling “please save my baby” in Spanish. The woman took the baby to a hospital as the woman’s husband helped them to a nearby building. They all lived.

Huberty pulled a portable radio out tuning it into a music station. He then searched the kitchen finding six employees hiding. He showered them in bullets, killing 21-year-old Paulina López, 19-year-old Elsa Borboa-Fierro, and 18-year-old Margarita Padilla, and critically wounding 17-year-old Alberto Leos.

A fire engine drove within range of the restaurant, Huberty repeatedy shot at the vehicle but did not injure anyone inside. Huberty heard a wounded teneger moaning, Huberty fatally shot him in the head. Occasionaly Huberty blurted justifications before shooting his victims.

At first the police did not know how many shooters were inside due to the shear amount of gunfire. Reflections from the smashed windows made it hard for police to see inside

The End

It was 5:17 pm a SWAT sniper perched on the post office roof, he had a clear view of Huberty from the neck down. He fired, a bullet entered Huberty’s chest which severed the aorta which is under the heart, the bullet exited through his spine. It sent him flying backwards onto the ground killing him within seconds.

Within the 78 minutes of the incident Hubert had fired over 245 rounds of ammunition, killed 20 and wounded 20 others. Out of the deaths 13 died from gunshot wounds to the head, seven died from gunshot wounds to the chest. And 8 month Carlos Reyes died from a single wound to the back.

Most of the victims were of mexican or mexican american ancestry and the age of the victims spanned from 8 months to 74 years.

The Aftermath



It only took 2 days to refurbish and renovate the restaurant planning to reopen for business. After a discussion with community leaders it was decided to not reopen. On July 28 the restaurant was demolished. McDonald’s donated $1 million to a survivors fund and the McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc donated a further $100,000 to the fund.

The ground of the restraunt was donated to the city. For four years they were thinking of converting the site into a memorial park or shrine to the dead. In Feburaruary 1988 Southwestern College brought the site for $136,000, with the agreement that a 300-square-foot area in front of the campus would be set aside as a permanent memorial to the 21 victims who died in the massacre. A memorial consisting of 21 hexagonal white marble pillars ranging in height from one to six feet, each bearing the name of one of the victims was constructed.