A few days ago, I met a friend for a pitcher of margaritas to cool down from this crazy heat wave. I also got random lobster tinted streaks on my upper thighs and lower torso while being completely engrossed in a book by the pool. Usually I'm religious about sunscreen application so I'm not really sure what happened there. Anyways, tequila + refrigerated lidocaine/aloe were the perfect prescription...
Margaritas should spur on jovial conversation...however, my friend began recounting how he feels people have gotten way more aggressive and even violent over the past year. Whether it be the craziness reported by the main stream media or the lockdowns, perhaps there is definitely a noticeable change in people these days (fights on airplanes are up 130% for instance). Here in Colorado, we had the Boulder King Sooper's shooting earlier this year. They are still investigating what prompted the unhinged gunman to enter that market and shoot innocent people, including an officer of the law. It was a truly sad day. And, apparently his family had seen some signs leading to this shooting rampage + had previously taken away his gun(s). But, have people just recently gone mad, or have we always had madness in society?
[Me] Standing at San Ysidro Massacre Memorial located in front of South Western Community College.
I recently visited the great state of California. San Diego is, by far, my favorite city in California + a place I would seriously consider relocating. It's so crazy to think one of the deadliest mass shootings by a lone gunman in US history happened in the San Ysidro neighborhood (a largely impoverished + Hispanic community located right next to the Mexico border) of San Diego at a McDonald's! I was six years old when it all happened on a bloody Wednesday on July 18, 1984...a shooting rampage that lasted 77 minutes, killing 21 (+ an unborn baby and the gunman himself) and injuring 19.
The gunman, James Oliver Huberty, had confided in his wife, Etna Markland Huberty, just days earlier that he thought he had gone "mental." A few days after that he reached out to the San Diego Mental Health Clinic requesting a telephone call back. However, the operator logged the call as a non-crisis call (since Huberty had never before been hospitalized for mental health conditions --non-crisis calls were typically returned within 48 hours -- not to mention they misspelled his name).
Huberty sat by the phone patiently awaiting a return call that never happened. Huberty had two daughters, ages 12 and 10. The following days he took them to the park, the San Diego Zoo, watched a movie with his wife and acted otherwise normal (aside from his wife recalling comments like: "My life is over" + referring to the non-returned call from the mental health clinic: "Society had their chance," which she blew off at the time. On Wednesday, after having lunch at McDonald's July 18th, after having lunch at McDonald's with his family, he walked into the bedroom wearing battle fatigues and kissed his wife + told her goodbye. Then he said he was "going hunting...hunting for humans. At the time Etna blew it off and didn't take him seriously. Holding a gun and a box of ammunition he told his eldest daughter: "Goodbye I won't be back."
At 3:56 p.m., Huberty entered into the San Ysidro McDonald's in his Mercury Marquis (the restaurant was located only 200 yards from his apartment). He thought about the post office and a few other places. He perhaps settled on the McDonald's because there would be more victims. He carried with him a 9mm Browning HP semi-automatic pistol, a 9mm Uzi, and a Winchester 1200 12 gauge pump action shot gun (along with a cloth bag packed with hundreds of rounds for each gun).
At the time there were 45 customers dining inside. He yelled: "EVERYBODY ON THE GROUND!" and "Dirty swine, Vietnam assholes." He kept saying he had, "killed a thousand and intended to kill a thousand more." When a victim tried to reason with him, he shot him 14 times. Huberty had never served in any branch of the military.
A call was made to dispatch around 4 p.m. but officers were sent to the wrong McDonald's! Meanwhile Huberty continued his rampage, stopping to turn the dial on the radio behind the counter. He was trying to find coverage of the incident, but then he quickly turned it to music while he danced and continued shooting.
Finally at 5:17 p.m. an officer (Chuck Foster) got a clear enough shot. Huberty was blown back to the counter with a gaping wound to his aorta, instantly killing him. Before he was killed, he had fired a total of 257 rounds! The saddest part was his victims ranged from 74 years old to as young as 4 months old. Several children died at the hands of this madman (which didn't make sense since Huberty was a father himself).
The McDonald's was demolished later that year. The land was donated to the City and later sold in 1988 to South Western Community College (with the agreement that the front of the property facing the road would be left vacant for a future memorial to the victims). In 1990, a memorial was constructed by one of the students. The memorial has 21 hexagons of different heights + sizes to represent the different ages of the victims.
The victims' families tried suing McDonald's. But, the lawsuit was dismissed because McDonald's had no "duty of care" to protect patrons from an unforeseeable rampage at the hands of a lunatic. Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald's offered to pay for all of the funerals -- even starting a survivors' fund. Although, the survivors had to sue to get the funds released. One thing to mention that was really distasteful - within 72 hours after the rampage (before it was decided to demolish the restaurant), McDonald's had completely refurbished and fixed the restaurant to reopen (almost like nothing had happened.)
Ray Kroc, Founder of McDonald's
Also, there was heavy discussion about the 77 minute response time by the SWAT team. People argued the officers should stormed the restaurant. The SWAT team could not see through the splintered plexiglass windows due to Huberty's rampage (which is what took so long to get a clear shot of Huberty).
"It was like they had just stopped in time. All these bodies were lying around. Heads were slumped on the table...the old man walking out was lying on the floor, donuts beside him. The two kids were dead by their bikes; the infant was dead in the arms of the people...there were two burned hamburgers on the grill."
-Dr. Tom Neuman, UC San Diego Medical Center Life Flight Physician describing walking into the restaurant seeing the aftermath
What went wrong? Were there signs that could have prevented this massacre? What do we even know about Huberty?
Bullied?
At young age, he contracted polio and had to wear braces on his legs. He walked with a limp for the remainder of his life. Due to antisocial and awkward behavior, he was the target of severe bullying all through high school.
Mad Hatter's Type Disease?
He had been an embalmer at a funeral home and worked with chemicals such formaldehydes. He had also been a welder (like Marv Heemyer - if you read my "The Bulldozer Dude" post earlier this week). His wife, after the massacre, sued not only the McDonald's but his previous employer where he had been a welder for decades. She argued that he inhaled lead and other highly toxic and poisonous metals such as cadmium (found in his blood during his autopsy -- and also found in batteries + cigarettes -- see "Mad Hatter Disease" from Mercury poisoning). Further, she complained that the company failed to provide her husband with reasonable respiratory protection -- causing fits of rage and delusional thoughts from the toxic metal inhilation. The lawsuit was dismissed.
A History of Domestic Violence?
He had a history of domestic violence, holding a knife to his daughter's throat and beating his wife. While his wife failed repeatedly to get Huberty in counseling, she did come up with a fake tarot card reading that seemed to de-escalate matters. She recounted that he would come down from his mania after she performed a tarot reading and he would believe her "readings" wholeheartedly.
Suicidal?
He had, at least on one occasion, held a gun to his head and threatened suicide in front of his family. Having been laid off (which he blamed on the Feds), he feared he could not provide for his family. He had also reported hearing voices, some telling him to kill himself. Sadly, his wife would later state that she wished she had just let him go on with it [suicide].
Conspiracy Theorist?
Huberty was known to retaliate and keep a tally on his "enemies." He also believed the Cold war was impending and Carter, Reagan and the US government were all conspiring against him.
Racial Motivations?
Although the massacre was not considered a hate crime, Huberty did not like being the only Anglo-American in his entire complex (which is odd since he moved to Tijuana years earlier).
ANSWER: Yes, there were signs, but hind site is always 20/20, isn't it?
What ever happened to Huberty's family?
They relocated under assumed names after receiving hoards of death threats. Both Etna and Zelia expressed they never took any of his "ramblings" or threats seriously. In 2003, Etna died of breast cancer.
Etna Huberty
Apparently there was a documentary released in 2016 called "77 Minutes" about this horrificly tragic incident. I've not seen it, but I may check out Amazon Prime to see if it's available.
Remembering the victims of the San Ysidro McDonald's Massacre:
Killed inside restaurant:
Elsa Herlinda Borboa-Firro, 19 years old
Neva Denise Caine, 22 years old
Michelle Deanne Carncross, 18 years old
Maria Elena Colmenero-Silva, 19 years old
Gloria Lopez Gonzalez, 22 years old
Blythe Rega Herrera, 31 years old
Caludia Perez, 9 years old
Jose Ruben Lozano-Perez, 19 years old
Carlos Reyes, 8 months old
Jackie Lynn Wright Reyes, 18 years old
Victor Maxmillian Rivera, 25 years old
Matao Herrera, 11 years old
Arisdeli Vuelvas-Vargas, 31 years old
Hugo Luis Velazquez Vasquez, 45 years old
Laurence Herman Versluis, 62 years old
Paulina Quino Lopez, 21 years old
Margarita Padilla, 18 years old
Killed outside the restaurant:
David Flores Delgado, 11 years old
Omarr Alonso Hernandez, 11 years old
Miguel Victoria-Ulloa, 74 years old
Aida Velazquez Victoria, 69 years old
Thank you for visiting. I hope you learned something new.
Have a lovely rest of the week + drink plenty of water! It's supposed to get up to 100 today here in Colorado!
Love,
Kimmie
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