The McDonald's massacre was an incident of mass murder at a McDonald's restaurant in San Ysidro, California (a suburb of San Diego), United States, on July 18, 1984.
The massacre was carried out by James Oliver Huberty, who lived in an apartment near the restaurant. Huberty used a nine-millimeter Uzi submachine gun, a Winchester pump-action twelve-gauge shotgun, and a nine-millimeter Browning semi-automatic pistol in the restaurant, killing 21 people and wounding 19 others. Huberty's victims were predominantly Mexican and Mexican-American and ranged in age from eight months to 74 years. The massacre began at 4 p.m. and lasted for 77 minutes. Huberty had spent 257 rounds of ammunition before he was fatally shot by Chuck Foster, a SWAT team sniper perched on the roof next door. At the time this was the worst single-day massacre in U.S. history. Omar Hernandez was the first to die as he, David Flores, and Joshua Coleman ran for their bicycles. Coleman, 11 years old at the time, was wounded but survived the attack by laying on the asphalt and playing dead. Blythe and Matao Herrera also died.
In 1987 Huberty's widow, Etna, filed a USD $5 million lawsuit against McDonald's, claiming that the massacre was triggered by her husband's consumption of excessive amounts of Chicken McNuggets. She alleged that monosodium glutamate (MSG) from the food interacted with the lead and cadmium that had built up in Huberty's body after 14 years as a welder. The claim was dismissed. In September 1984, McDonald's tore down the restaurant where the massacre occurred and gave the property to the city, which opened San Ysidro Southwest Community College there. In front of the school is a memorial to the massacre victims. The memorial consists of 21 hexagonal granite pillars ranging in height from one to six feet.
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Last updated: 05-06-2005 18:34:54
