It was July 18, 1984, when the small, Mexican-dominated community of San Ysidro, a suburb of San Diego, CA, was forever changed when James Oliver Huberty, a forty-one year old Ohio native, packed three guns and a satchel full of ammunition and drove down the street from his apartment to the nearby McDonald’s. It was a little before 4:00 PM, and the McDonald’s was busy with families there to enjoy the playground outside–in fact, it was one of the busiest times for that location, according to former employee Wendy Flanagan. In a recent interview for the documentary film 77 Minutes, Ms. Flanagan explains how during the summer, mothers would often bring their children to the McDonald’s to use the playground, even if they weren’t ordering anything.
Huberty arrived at the restaurant at about 3:56 that afternoon, unloaded the guns and ammunition from his car, and walked inside the building. He pointed his favored weapon, a 9mm Uzi Carbine, at John Arnold and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened, but restaurant manager Guillermo Flores shouted “He’s trying to shoot you!” at the teenager. Arnold assumed it was a joke and walked away, an assumption that saved his life. Instead, recently married manager Neva Caine stepped into the line of fire. Huberty fixed the issue with his gun and fired a shot into the ceiling, then shot Neva Caine point-blank just below her eye.
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I had never heard of the San Ysidro massacre until a few days ago. I’m a documentary junkie, and in scrolling through the available documentaries on Amazon Prime, discovered the recently released 77 Minutes. While the documentary has poor reviews at the moment due to a pervading feeling throughout that Charles Minn, the director, is trying to imply police corruption when no evidence for it exists, the information about the shooting, and the many interviews with survivors and victims’ families was enough to get me to dig deeper into the event.
What I learned was that the San Ysidro massacre was the deadliest single-day shooting in US history at the time it occurred, and that gunman James Huberty could and should have been stopped before he marched into the McDonald’s and opened fire.
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Huberty’s life story isn’t very different from those of other mass murderers we know of. He was a loner as a child, ridiculed and teased for not being athletic, obsessed with the morbid. But his wife and daughter insist that their family life was fairly normal. He was a loving husband and father, and while he had a quick temper and encouraged revenge when wronged, he doesn’t seem to have had any major indicators of violent tendencies. He was arrested once on a drunk and disorderly charge, and the same day as the shooting he went to traffic court to plead guilty to a violation, explaining that he was unaware of the law he’d broken as he’d only recently moved to the area.
In the days leading up to the event, though, Huberty did show signs that he was reaching the breaking point. He told his wife, Etna, that he had “a serious mental health issue,” and the next day called a mental health clinic. However his calm demeanor worked against him, and the receptionist marked his case as “non-crisis,” meaning that instead of getting the immediate attention he needed, the clinic would review his case and get back to him within forty-eight hours. Huberty waited by the phone for the clinic to call back, and when they didn’t he left the apartment in silent anger. When he returned, everything seemed back to normal, and the family continued life as usual.
After traffic court ended the day of the incident, the Huberty family went to the San Diego Zoo, and ate lunch at a McDonald’s in Claremont (not the same restaurant Huberty would later target in the shooting). Interestingly, Etna Huberty later claimed it was the food eaten at McDonald’s that drove her husband to become a mass murderer, and sued the company. She lost.
When the Hubertys returned home, Etna cleaned up in the kitchen while the girls played. Zelia, one of two daughters, reported to her mother that James was “playing with ammunition,” but as that was a normal occurrence for gun-enthusiast Huberty, Etna took no notice and went to lie down for a nap. Not long after, Huberty entered the room and told her he wanted to kiss her goodbye. As he moved to leave, Etna asked where he was going. Huberty replied, “I’m going hunting, hunting for humans.” Etna ignored this, and continued her nap after he left.
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After killing Neva Caine, Huberty opened fire on the rest of the restaurant. At some point, Victor Rivera bravely stood up and tried to talk Huberty out of continuing his rampage. Huberty told Victor to shut up and shot him multiple times, killing him.
Huberty also targeted a group of women and children cowering together the corner of the restaurant, near the entrance to the playground outside. Everyone in the group was shot, including an eight month old baby, Carlos Reyes, and his mother, Jackie. Jackie died shielding her niece, Aurora Pena, from the gunfire. Aurora survived, as did her older friend, Imelda Perez. The rest of the group was killed.
Maria Rivera, Victor’s wife, had been sitting with her husband and infant daughter when the shooting started. Frightened for her older daughter’s life, she ran immediately to the playground and got her older daughter, then reentered the restaurant and rejoined her younger daughter. She didn’t see her husband die. Maria was able to shield her girls from most of the gunfire, coaxing them to sleep by telling them it was a game, and the blood was just ketchup. The three of them survived by Maria playing dead on top of her sleeping children.
In the back of the kitchen, Alberto Leos, Wendy Flanagan, and four other employees huddled between stations. Wendy remembers constantly hearing the beeping of the fryer going off, since no one was able to take out the batch of fries put in before the shooting started. Alberto remembers constantly trying to get a good look at the gunman from behind his hiding place, but being afraid of the ricocheting bullets, or catching the gunman’s attention. He mentions that while he thought about trying to rush the gunman, the random pattern to his shooting, and his tendency to shoot anything that moved stopped Alberto from doing anything. The employees do manage to get a phone and call 911, but it’s unsure how long this call lasted, or what was said.
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Outside the McDonald’s, the police received multiple reports that shots have been fired at the San Ysidro Boulevard McDonald’s. They were dispatched initially to a location on the wrong side of the city, but the mistake was quickly corrected. Some speculate that the mistake may have cost valuable time needed to get the situation under control, citing as many as 10 minutes wasted without police on the scene, although the most common estimate is more like 4-5 minutes.
Lydia Flores, a young mother, pulled up to the drive through. When she heard the shots and saw the gunman inside, she reversed her car, stepped on the gas, and when her car was stopped by a fence, hid inside it with her two year old daughter until the shooting stopped and it was safe to come out.
Across the street at the post office, the Felix family arrived, parked, and headed for the McDonald’s. Huberty sees them and opens fire from inside the restaurant. Astolfo, Marciela, and baby Karlita are all hit. Astolfo and Marciela ran in opposite directions around the car, and by the time they reunite, Astolfo has handed his baby girl to a stranger and asked them to get her help. All three ultimately survive, although they were all in critical condition for a time.
From a donut shop neighboring the McDonald’s, three boys rode their bikes toward the McDonald’s. A stranger across the street shouted at them to run away, and as the three boys turned to see what was going on, Huberty shot all three of them. Joshua Coleman was shot in the arm and the side. Omarr Alonso Hernandez was shot in the stomach. David Flores Delgado was shot in the head. David died instantly. Omarr writhed in agony for a few long minutes as his friend, Joshua Coleman, watched. Joshua Coleman was the only boy of the three to survive.
While Joshua Coleman lay on the ground where he was shot, he watched as at least one elderly couple approached the McDonald’s and tried to enter. Both were shot where they stood. Joshua decided to play dead, hoping that way he wouldn’t attract Huberty’s attention. It is this decision that probably saved his life.
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Miguel Rosario is the first officer on the scene. When he got out of the car, he noticed people huddling behind vehicles and assumed the shooter was outside. He took cover, and tried to get as close to the building as possible. He was unable to get a clear shot at the shooter, although he did get close enough to see people moving inside the building.
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Inside the restaurant, the Herrera family has all been shot. Blythe Herrera is killed protecting her son, Matteo. Matteo is also killed. Ronald Herrera is shot twice, about forty-five minutes apart, as he protects Matteo’s best friend, Keith Thomas. Ronald and Keith survive.
Huberty continues his random firing. Sometimes he shoots obviously dead corpses. Other times he shoots at the wounded. After about an hour, he heard muffled crying from the back of the kitchen, and stalked back to find the huddled employees. He fired into the group, some of whom managed to flee. Margarita Padilla died after urging her friend, Wendy Flanagan, to run ahead of her. Alberto Leos was shot five times, but didn’t die. Instead he lay still, hoping the gunman would ignore him. He did, moving back out into the restaurant, and the remaining employees escaped down the basement steps after the emergency exit was found to be locked.
Alberto Leos decided staying where he was would eventually attracted Huberty’s attention again. He tried to get up to run to the basement, but one of his legs had been shot and he couldn’t stand. Instead he crawled to the very back of the restaurant and down the flight of stairs to the closet where the other employees were hiding. They let him in, and he helped make a tourniquet for his leg and arm with his shoelaces. Everyone hiding in the closet survives.
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At 4:30, news anchor Monica Zech watched the incident unfold from a weather plane. She alerted the authorities to the shooting, and the freeway and nearby border crossing to Tijuana, Mexico, were closed. The San Diego SWAT team was also dispatched.
When the SWAT team arrived, Charles Foster was positioned on the roof of the post office. The sun was in his eyes and reflecting off the tinted windows. The shatter-proof windows were also spider-webbed with cracks from where Huberty had been shooting people on the outside. However, he can see Huberty when Huberty came near the windows or the doors, which apparently were not shatter-proof.
At 5:17 PM, Foster was able to see Huberty framed in the doorway from the neck down. He took one shot, which went straight through Huberty’s heart. He died instantly.
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With the gunman dead, police entered the building, not sure what they’d find. Huberty was handcuffed, despite his obvious death, because of SWAT procedure at the time. The building was swept and survivors were ushered out and to the waiting ambulances.
Miguel Rosario was one of the first officers into the building after the SWAT team. He remembers the first thing he saw upon entering the building was a woman lying dead on the floor, next to a man, also dead. Between them was a baby that looked like it was sleeping. In interviews, Rosario recalls the nauseated feeling he got looking at this family of victims, and wondering who could do such a thing.
In all, there were twenty-one dead, twenty-two including Huberty. Nineteen were wounded. The ages of those killed ranged from eight months to seventy-four years. While it’s believed the killings might have been racially motivated (Huberty made no secret of his dislike for the Hispanic community), Huberty left no manifesto or suicide letter, merely his comment to his wife that he was “hunting for humans.”
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In the aftermath of the massacre, the McDonald’s was razed and a monument to the victims was installed.
Etna Huberty gave many interviews after the massacre. She describes their day as normal, their family as normal. When questioned about why she didn’t do anything when he told her he was “hunting for humans,” Etna explains that he often made shocking statements like that in order to provoke her into getting angry at him. She assumed this was just his latest attempt and ignored it. Later, when she realized the chaos outside the McDonald’s was caused by her husband, she describes the feeling as dreamlike and surreal.
In an interview for the TV show America Undercover, Etna gave an interview where she talks about how she believes he could have been stopped if the mental health clinic he’d called had reacted differently. She calls the mental health clinic a “last-ditch effort” to stop himself, and believes that he didn’t seek help previously due to the strong stigma against mental disorders. She also explains that while they were in Ohio, she’d asked the family doctor for help, concerned by some of her husband’s behavior, and the doctor had prescribed Valium. However, when they left the state, she no longer had access to the drug, and when her supply ran out she wasn’t able to get more.
She also believes that Huberty never wanted to kill anyone, and that he called the clinic to prevent himself from doing harm to others.
Zelia Huberty, who was twelve at the time of the massacre, recalled in a recent interview that she watched the chaos from their apartment and was extremely detached from what was happening. She even recalls thinking that it was better them than her. In the time since, she explains, she has done her best to become the “opposite” of her father. She advises other children of mass shooters, “You have a choice to make. You can feel sorry for yourself or you can say f— it and move on. You’re not like them (emphasis mine).” Zelia currently works as a nurse, a choice she made to move away from her father and his actions.
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The victims and their families, however, have not all moved on as easily. Some blame the police for not acting faster. Others are crippled by the losses they suffered. Still others have overcome the event and lead fulfilling lives.
Alberto Leos was so inspired by the event that he is now a police officer in San Diego. He explains that becoming a police officer was a lifelong dream of his, and that after the shooting he decided to pursue it full time. He regrets not being able to help during the shooting, and uses his position on the force to do as much as he can to help others.
Marciela Felix lost an eye during the shooting, and the use of one hand, but says that her family survived, and that is the important part.
Maria Rivera, on the other hand, says that that day ruined her life, and she’ll never be free of it. In the interview she gave for the documentary 77 Minutes, she explains that her daughters were the only thing that kept her going afterward, and that to survive on a daily basis she has to actively compartmentalize her life before and during the shooting.
Wendy Flanigan, who lost good friends to the shooting, questions why the police took so long to arrive, and why no one shot the gunman sooner. She’s made peace with the massacre as much as she can, but seems to struggle with survivors guilt.
Accusations against the police and the SWAT team do raise some excellent questions, especially with regard to the amount of time it took to contain the situation. However, Charles Foster, who was the sniper who ultimately shot and killed Huberty, ending the crisis, says that the long period of time it took was simply due to them not having procedures in place for this kind of crisis. He compares it to the terrorist attacks on 9/11, explaining that just like when a plane hit the World Trade Center no one knew what to do, in the 1980s, when a shooter was active in a public place, no one really knew what to do. He cites the 1984 massacre as a turning point for SWAT teams, since the shooting was used to bring about new policies that would help reduce the time a shooter was active in the future.
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Dedicated to the victims of the San Ysidro McDonald’s Massacre
Deceased:
- Elsa Herlinda Borboa-Fierro (19)
- Neva Denise Caine (22)
- Michelle Deanne Carncross (18)
- María Elena Colmenero-Silva (19)
- Gloria López González (22)
- Blythe Regan Herrera (31)
- Mateo Herrera (11)
- Paulina Aquino López (21)
- Margarita Padilla (18)
- Claudia Perez (9)
- Jose Rubén Lozano Perez (19)
- Carlos Reyes (8 months)
- Jackie Lynn Wright Reyes (18)
- Victor Maxmillian Rivera (25)
- Arisdelsi Vuelvas Vargas (31)
- Hugo Luis Velazquez Vasquez (45)
- Laurence Herman Versluis (62)
- David Flores Delgado (11)
- Omarr Alonso Hernandez (11)
- Miguel Victoria Ulloa (74)
- Aida Velazquez Victoria (69)
Survived:
- Juan Acosta (33)
- John Arnold (16)
- Anthony Atkins (36)
- Astolfo Cejundo (26)
- Joshua Coleman (11)
- Guadalupe del Rio (24)
- Astolfo Felix (31)
- Karlita Felix (4 months)
- Maricela Felix (23)
- Ronald Herrera (33)
- Alberto Leos (17)
- Francisco Lopez (22)
- Aurora Peña (11)
- Imelda Perez (15)
- Maria Rivera (25)
- Mireya Rivera (4)
- Keith Thomas (12)
- Juan Tokano (33)
- Kenneth Villegas
Sources:
sandiegotribune.com/scl-me-mcdonalds-documentary
77 Minutes (2018), dir. Charlie Minn (available on Amazon Prime)
KFMB 8 “The Year in Review” (youtube.com/watch?v=uxzS-amEXt0)
Real Crime Magazine (youtube.com/watch?v=AXCvEsIZRVY)–timeline of events
America Undercover “Acts of Violence,” 1985, dir. Imre Horvath (youtube.com/watch?v=xQ3If73-VJo)
Rob Dyke “Anatomy of a Murder” (youtube.com/watch?v=LGpym2LagOk)
cbsnews.com/pictures/america-most-deadly-mass-shootings/8/
nytimes.com/1984/07/19/us/coast-man-kills-20-in-rampage-at-a-restaurant.html
lifedeathprizes.com/real-life-crimes/james-huberty-mcdonalds-massacre-64538
liveleak.com/view?i=3e5_1506542515 WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT (crime scene video)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Ysidro_McDonald’s_massacre (victim list)
sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-carnage-survivor-lives-his-dram-being-cop-2004jul18-story.html
nydailynews.com/news/national/daughter-1984-gunman-speaks-article-1.2464531
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