August 17, 2025 • 19 mins
On July 18, 1984, a sleepy border community in Southern California became the site of unimaginable horror when 41-year-old James Oliver Huberty walked into a McDonald's restaurant and unleashed what would become the deadliest mass shooting in California history.
The San Ysidro McDonald's Massacre claimed the lives of 22 innocent people and left 19 others wounded during a 77-minute rampage that forever changed how law enforcement responds to active shooter situations. What drove this troubled man to such extreme violence? We trace Huberty's disturbing path from his polio-stricken childhood and maternal abandonment to his growing obsession with weapons and doomsday conspiracies. Most tragically, we reveal how Huberty attempted to get mental health help just one day before the shooting, only to fall through the cracks of a system that classified his call as "non-crisis."
The attack itself unfolds in heart-wrenching detail – from the first shots fired at young employees to the methodical execution of entire families, including children and infants. We examine the initial police confusion that sent officers to the wrong location, their realization they were outgunned against Huberty's arsenal, and the SWAT sniper who finally ended the nightmare with a single shot from a nearby post office roof. The aftermath brought profound changes: McDonald's demolished the restaurant and donated the land, police departments nationwide overhauled their active shooter protocols, and a community struggled to heal from wounds that would never fully close.
This episode offers not just a historical account of a devastating tragedy, but a sobering look at the intersection of mental health failures, gun access, and emergency response that continues to resonate in America's ongoing struggle with mass shootings. Listen, share, and join the conversation about this pivotal moment in criminal history by following us on social media or emailing your thoughts to historysadisaster@gmail.com.
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Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
San Isidro is a sleepy little district of
southern San Diego.
This former border town alongthe Mexican-American border is
largely composed of Hispaniccitizens and wholly unprepared
for the level of violence oneman would visit upon the
neighborhood on July 18, 1984,when 41-year-old James Oliver
(00:25):
Huberty entered a McDonald's andbegan a shooting rampage that
would last for over 70 minutes.
The attack remains the largestmass shooting in California
history.
So what happened?
I'm Andrew and this is Historyis a Disaster is history is a
(00:49):
disaster.
Tonight we're taking a lookinto what was, at the time, the
largest mass shooting in UShistory and still remains the
largest in California history.
And before we get into it, thisepisode is brought to you by
Hot Dog Prince.
Not even a sniper can put thesedogs down.
Brought to you by Hot DogPrince.
Not even a sniper can put thesedogs down.
Now, james Huberti, thisshithead, was born in Canton,
(01:10):
ohio, in 1942.
He developed polio at three,which would lead to lifelong
difficulties walking.
In the 50s, the family moved toAmish country in Pennsylvania.
His mother, ickkel and that's afantastic name, ickel not
surprisingly did not like thearea and refused to stay there
(01:31):
here.
His nut job of a mother wouldsoon abandon the family, leaving
him alone and feeling isolatedand constantly pissed off.
In 1962, he'd escaped the farmwhen he went off to Malone
College in Canton, ohio, tostudy sociology where he would
meet his future wife, EdnaMarkland.
(01:52):
Not happy with sociology, hechanged majors and colleges to
Pittsburgh Institute of MortuaryScience.
In 1965, him and Edna gotmarried.
After he got his embalminglicense he went on to work as an
(02:15):
embalmer for a few years inCanton before deciding on
another career change Becauseapparently he decided he did not
like dead bodies that much.
This time he became a welderfor Union Metal Inc in Marcelon,
ohio, while in Marcelon theirtwo daughters were born, zelia
in 1972 and Cassandra in 1974.
(02:36):
During this time he startedshowing a bit of a violent
strength, along with collectingan arsenal of guns and getting
real deep into conspiracytheories.
He was convinced the world wasgoing to end soon and was
prepping for some kind ofdoomsday scenario.
Aetna filed at least onedomestic violence complaint
(02:56):
after getting punched in theface.
Coworkers said he constantlytalked about shooting people and
during one argument with aneighbor over James' dog, he
shot the dog in the head.
Real stable behavior and not inany way crazy or paranoid.
By 1983, he'd lose his weldingjob and be forced to find a new
(03:17):
way to support his family.
After scrounging for work, he'deventually relocate the family
to Tijuana for a fresh start,taking with them only the most
basic essentials and, of course,all of his guns.
Everything else was left behindin storage In Tijuana.
He grew resentful of theMexicans around him.
Unable to speak the languageand get steady work, his
(03:41):
feelings of isolationintensified.
Worked, his feelings ofisolation intensified.
In January of 1984, they movedto the San Diego neighborhood of
San Ysidro, near the Mexicanborder.
Huberti managed to get a job asa security guard within an
apartment complex, but, as withprevious jobs, this didn't last
long.
On July 10th he got fired fromthis job as well.
(04:03):
The frustration of losinganother job threw him into a
downward spiral, feeling allhope was lost.
His already unstable mentalcondition was rapidly
deteriorating.
He did try to get help.
He talked to his wife about hisconcerns and eventually made a
call on July 17th to get anappointment to seek help.
(04:24):
The receptionist that took thecall took his information down
and promised a return callwithin a few hours to schedule
the appointment.
The call never came.
The receptionist put it down asa non-crisis call, based
entirely off his calm demeanor,which means it would be two days
(04:49):
before they would call back toschedule an appointment.
Huberti was extremelyfrustrated after waiting by the
phone for hours, waiting for acall that would never come.
Eventually he got up and leftthe house without saying
anything.
He'd eventually come backwithin an hour, calm as if
nothing had happened.
The family had dinner and theywatched a movie together.
(05:10):
The next day they took the kidsto the zoo.
Huberti made some distressingcomments as they walked around.
He talked about how his lifewas over and that no one cared,
since no one wanted to call backto help him.
The most concerning comment wasthat society had had their
chance.
After leaving the zoo, theystopped for lunch at McDonald's.
(05:31):
Before returning home, as Ednawas laying on the bed, james
walked in to give her a kissbefore leaving.
When asked where he was going,he said he was going hunting
Hunting for humans.
Edna blew off the comment,thinking he was just in a
depressed mood.
He changed clothes and wrappeda 9mm Uzi, a Browning high-power
(05:52):
pistol and a 12-gaugeWinchester 1200 shotgun in a
blanket.
Before leaving the house,telling his daughter Zelia he
wouldn't be back, he hopped inhis Mercury Marquis and took off
down San Isidro Boulevard,passing a supermarket and post
office, before pulling into theMcDonald's parking lot just 200
(06:13):
yards from his apartment.
At 3.56 in the afternoon, theSan Isidro McDonald's was packed
and buzzing with noise.
Huberti entered relativelyunnoticed, carrying death in his
arms.
No one paid him much attentionuntil he pulled his shotgun on a
16-year-old employee, johnArnold.
The assistant manager,guillermo Flores, yelled at
(06:37):
Arnold, thinking it was somekind of joke.
Huberti pulled the trigger andthe gun failed to go off.
Arnold blew him off and turnedto walk away as Huberti stared
at his gun.
22-year-old restaurant managerNeva Cain reached the service
counter just as Huberti managedto get the shotgun to fire,
(06:57):
striking the ceiling.
Switching to the Uzi, he aimedit straight at Neva and fired
once, hitting her below her lefteye and killing her instantly.
The McMassacre had begun.
He aimed the shotgun back atArnold, firing it into his chest
as he yelled for everyone toget on the ground.
He yelled and snarled outthreats as he cussed at the
(07:18):
cowering crowd.
25-year-old Victor Riveraattempted to plead with Huberti,
begging him to stop the attack.
His pleas fell on deaf ears asHuberti yelled at him to shut up
, shut up, shut up, firing shotafter shot.
Rivera's screams filled therestaurant.
Fourteen shots later, he laydead on the floor.
The patrons tried to escape,hiding beneath tables and boots.
(07:42):
Huberti was undeterred.
His eyes settled on a group ofsix women and children huddled
together.
19-year-old Marina ElenaComanero-Silvas was shot and
killed with a single shot to thechest.
He turned his Uzi to 15-year-oldImelda Perez and her
(08:03):
nine-year-old sister, claudiaFiring.
Repeatedly, imelda was woundedwith a single shot to the chest.
Firing.
Repeatedly, imelda was woundedwith a single shot to the chest.
Her sister would not be solucky she would be killed after
being shot nine times.
11-year-old Aurora Pena waswounded when Huberti hit her
with a round from a shotgun inthe leg.
Her pregnant 18-year-old aunt,jackie Lynn Reyes, saved her
(08:27):
life when she shielded her withher own body For her bravery and
selflessness.
Huberty shot her 48 times withthe Uzi.
Her 8-month-old son criedbeside his mother's lifeless
body.
Huberty shot him once in theback with his pistol, killing
the child.
He next turned his attention tothe McDonald's play area,
(08:54):
stopping only once to shoot a62-year-old truck driver,
lawrence Herman Versluis.
He continued on to the playarea, spraying bullets into the
restaurant.
In the play area, he set hissights on a family hiding under
some tables.
Blith Herrera, 31, was hidingwith her 11-year-old son Mateo,
31, was hiding with her11-year-old son, mateo, while
her husband, ronald, 33, hid12-year-old Keith Thomas under
(09:15):
the table across the aisle.
Ronald and Keith were shot andwounded multiple times.
Blythe and Mateo would notsurvive after being shot in the
head multiple times.
Under a nearby table, erisdelceVargas, 31, shielded her
24-year-old friend, guadalupeDel Rio.
Hubert had shot the womenmultiple times, with Guadalupe
(09:35):
being hit multiple times andreceiving minor injuries.
Vargas was shot once in theback of the head.
She would survive the attack,only to die days later in the
hospital.
Exiting the play area,45-year-old Hugo Vesquez was
shot and killed with a singleshot to the chest Outside the
restaurant.
No one had any idea what washappening.
(09:56):
Police had been called withinminutes of the first shots being
fired, but had not arrived yet.
Lydia Flores, unaware of thehorrors going on inside, didn't
notice anything until she pulledup to the drive-thru window and
saw the bullet holes andhearing gunshots coming from
inside.
She quickly threw the car inreverse and backed into a fence,
(10:18):
before ducking down to hide inher car with her two-year-old
son until the massacre was over.
At the same time three11-year-old boys were
approaching the McDonald's toget some sodas.
Someone shouted a warning tostop the boys, but it was too
late.
Huberti had seen them andopened fire with both his Uzi
and shotgun.
David Delgado died instantlywhen he was shot in the head
(10:41):
multiple times.
Omar Hernandez was shot in theback repeatedly and died minutes
later.
Joshua Coleman was shot in theback, arms and legs Seriously
wounded.
He laid still in the parkinglot playing dead, fooling
Huberty and saving his life.
74-year-old Miguel Ulolaattempted to open the door for
(11:04):
his 69-year-old wife, ada.
As he opened the door, hubertyopened fire, killing Ada with a
shot to the face and injuringMiguel.
Holding his wife and cursingHuberti, he tried to wipe the
blood from her face.
Huberti fired again, killingMiguel with another shot to the
head.
At 410, estolfo Felix pulledinto the parking lot with his
(11:27):
wife, 23 year old-old Maricela,and four-month-old daughter,
carlita.
They mistook the broken glassfor signs of renovation.
They realized their mistakewhen Huberti opened fire on the
family.
All three were shot and wounded, with Carlita being the worst,
getting shot in the neck, chestand stomach.
They ran to get out of sightMaricela, thrusting Carlita into
(11:49):
the arms of a stranger, runningfrom the scene and begging her
to save her baby before shecollapsed against the parked car
.
All three would make it to thehospital and survive the attack.
Back inside, huberti checked aportable radio, listening for
news coverage, hearing nothing.
(12:09):
Huberty checked a portableradio, listening for news
coverage, hearing nothing.
He turned on some music beforestarting up shooting again.
In the kitchen he found sixemployees hiding.
He opened fire, killing21-year-old Paulina Lopez,
19-year-old Elsa Barboa Fierroand 18-year-old Margarita
Padilla.
17-year-old Alberto Leos wasinjured by several shots but
(12:31):
managed to escape to a utilityroom in the basement where he
waited out the attack with sixother people.
Returning back to the lobby,huberti fired shots at an
approaching fire truck beforeturning his attention to the
moans of pain coming from aninjured 19-year-old Jose Perez.
He ended his pain with a singleshot to the head.
(12:51):
11-year-old Aurora Pina openedher eyes as she laid wounded,
surrounded by her dead aunt andnephew.
Huberti saw her and threw a bagof fries at her, cussing her
out and shooting her three moretimes with his shotgun.
Despite this, she would survive.
He wandered around therestaurant, shooting up the
place and firing into the bodieslittering the ground.
(13:14):
He yelled and screamed andtried to justify his actions
during his nearly hour and ahalf rampage Outside.
The police were waiting Afterthe first calls came in.
Police were dispatched to thewrong McDonald's.
Precious minutes were lostbefore they realized the error.
Mike Rosario was the firstofficer on scene at 4.07.
(13:35):
He was forced back as Hubertifired on him and the ambulance
that arrived shortly after him.
He was sorely outgunned, armedwith only his .38 caliber
service revolver.
Life flight crews were put onalert and told to be prepared to
send in thehelicopters.
Within five minutes of Rosariocoming under fire, a command
(13:55):
post was established within twoblocks of the McDonald's and the
SWAT team alert was issued.
The McDonald's was completelysurrounded by cops.
As medical personnel was put onfull alert and choppers were
called in.
By 4.35, the first SWAT unitsarrived, taking up positions to
the north of the restaurant.
Within another 10 minutes, swatwould have the building
(14:18):
surrounded.
Two people managed to escapefrom the rear of the building at
this time.
They were quickly interviewedby police as they gave them
valuable information on who wasinside.
The heavily tinted windows ofthe McDonald's prevented a clear
view of the inside.
Until now, the police had noidea how many active shooters
were inside.
By 5.13, a SWAT team on theroof of the post office was
(14:41):
given the green light.
The authorization to shoot tokill Any SWAT team member with a
clear shot was now authorizedto
fire.
At 514, huberty fired out thewindows towards San Ysidro
Boulevard.
Swat responded with two shotsof their own, but with no clear
(15:03):
picture.
They failed to hit Huberty.
Then, at 517, huberty fucked up.
He stepped in front of a doorwith a shattered window.
Swat sniper Charles Fosterdidn't hesitate.
He fired his Remington rifle,sending a .308 round from the
roof of the post office rightinto Huberty's chest, shattering
(15:23):
his spine, before blowing aone-inch exit wound out his back
.
After an hour and 18-minuterampage, james Huberty lay dead
on the floor of the McDonald'she wreaked so much havoc in.
After firing nearly 300 roundsand killing 22 innocent people
and wounding 19 others, thenightmare was
(15:44):
finally over.
The days following the massacrewere filled with sorrow as the
community mourned their dead.
With the amount of wakes to beheld, local funeral homes worked
out a deal with the San IsidroCivic Center to hold all the
wakes there.
Mount Carmel Church in SanIsidro held an unending chain of
funeral masses.
(16:05):
Within two days of the attack,mcdonald's, ever eager to move
on and open back up, completelyrenovated the restaurant and
were ready to get back tobusiness as usual.
The community not so much.
They did not want the locationto open back up.
Mcdonald's eventually agreed tothe request and, within 10 days
(16:26):
of the massacre, tore down therestaurant and gave the property
to San Ysidro, with the onlystipulation that no other
restaurant go there.
They would then open anotherrestaurant a short distance away
.
They would also contribute amillion dollars to a survivor's
fund.
This property sat empty forover three years as discussions
(16:48):
on what to put there went backand forth.
Multiple memorials were put upand taken down throughout the
three years before the propertywas eventually sold off to
Southwestern College, whoplanned on putting an extension
center there.
The only provision to the salewas that a 300 square foot area
in front of the center be setaside for a permanent memorial
(17:11):
tothe victims.
The massacre would also shakethings up with the police
department.
At the time.
They were wholly unprepared fora crime of this magnitude.
This was the first massshooting conducted by a single
shooter, and police doctrine atthe time was not enough to
handle the situation.
San Diego invested heavily inthe police department for better
(17:33):
weapons and more training,there was a large focus on
getting in and neutralizing thethreat as quickly as
possible possible.
As people started to move onand life got back to normal,
family members of victims andsurvivors sued McDonald's for
failing to protect them from theattack, which is fucking
ridiculous.
(17:53):
The lawsuits were eventuallythrown out.
The courts ruled that nobusiness had a duty to protect
patrons from an attack like thisand that any standard method
businesses used to prevent anddeter crimes would have been
inadequate.
Since it was obvious JamesSchuberty could care less about
surviving, etna and her daughterstayed out of the community for
(18:16):
a few weeks before moving backto Ohio and, disgustingly, were
the first ones to receive apayout from the Survivors Fund.
The community was not amused bythis.
In 1986, she also filed a $5million lawsuit against
McDonald's and James' formeremployer Babcock Wilcox.
(18:36):
The lawsuit claimed that a poordiet of McDonald's and the
dangers of working withpoisonous metal caused the
attack.
Yeah, okay, she would alsoattempt to sue the gun
manufacturers, blaming them forselling guns to an unstable man.
Unsurprisingly, none of theselawsuits were successful and
(18:57):
hopefully she hurt herself justat least a tiny little bit
trying to jump through all thosemental hoops to blame everyone
except her husband for hiscrimes, and that was the 1984
San Ysidro McMassacre, thelargest mass shooting in
(19:18):
California history.
Thanks for listening and if youlike the show, please consider
leaving a rating or review onyour Apple choice.
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gmailcom with questions,comments or suggestions, as well
as following the show on socialmedia like Facebook or
(19:38):
Instagram or TikTok, youtubewhatever and share the episode.
Your friends will love it.
Take care of yourself out there.
Chase that dream.
Live for today, becausetomorrow is never guaranteed.
Thanks and goodbye.
San Isidro is a sleepy little district of
southern San Diego.
This former border town alongthe Mexican-American border is
largely composed of Hispaniccitizens and wholly unprepared
for the level of violence oneman would visit upon the
neighborhood on July 18, 1984,when 41-year-old James Oliver
(00:25):
Huberty entered a McDonald's andbegan a shooting rampage that
would last for over 70 minutes.
The attack remains the largestmass shooting in California
history.
So what happened?
I'm Andrew and this is Historyis a Disaster is history is a
(00:49):
disaster.
Tonight we're taking a lookinto what was, at the time, the
largest mass shooting in UShistory and still remains the
largest in California history.
And before we get into it, thisepisode is brought to you by
Hot Dog Prince.
Not even a sniper can put thesedogs down.
Brought to you by Hot DogPrince.
Not even a sniper can put thesedogs down.
Now, james Huberti, thisshithead, was born in Canton,
(01:10):
ohio, in 1942.
He developed polio at three,which would lead to lifelong
difficulties walking.
In the 50s, the family moved toAmish country in Pennsylvania.
His mother, ickkel and that's afantastic name, ickel not
surprisingly did not like thearea and refused to stay there
(01:31):
here.
His nut job of a mother wouldsoon abandon the family, leaving
him alone and feeling isolatedand constantly pissed off.
In 1962, he'd escaped the farmwhen he went off to Malone
College in Canton, ohio, tostudy sociology where he would
meet his future wife, EdnaMarkland.
(01:52):
Not happy with sociology, hechanged majors and colleges to
Pittsburgh Institute of MortuaryScience.
In 1965, him and Edna gotmarried.
After he got his embalminglicense he went on to work as an
(02:15):
embalmer for a few years inCanton before deciding on
another career change Becauseapparently he decided he did not
like dead bodies that much.
This time he became a welderfor Union Metal Inc in Marcelon,
ohio, while in Marcelon theirtwo daughters were born, zelia
in 1972 and Cassandra in 1974.
(02:36):
During this time he startedshowing a bit of a violent
strength, along with collectingan arsenal of guns and getting
real deep into conspiracytheories.
He was convinced the world wasgoing to end soon and was
prepping for some kind ofdoomsday scenario.
Aetna filed at least onedomestic violence complaint
(02:56):
after getting punched in theface.
Coworkers said he constantlytalked about shooting people and
during one argument with aneighbor over James' dog, he
shot the dog in the head.
Real stable behavior and not inany way crazy or paranoid.
By 1983, he'd lose his weldingjob and be forced to find a new
(03:17):
way to support his family.
After scrounging for work, he'deventually relocate the family
to Tijuana for a fresh start,taking with them only the most
basic essentials and, of course,all of his guns.
Everything else was left behindin storage In Tijuana.
He grew resentful of theMexicans around him.
Unable to speak the languageand get steady work, his
(03:41):
feelings of isolationintensified.
Worked, his feelings ofisolation intensified.
In January of 1984, they movedto the San Diego neighborhood of
San Ysidro, near the Mexicanborder.
Huberti managed to get a job asa security guard within an
apartment complex, but, as withprevious jobs, this didn't last
long.
On July 10th he got fired fromthis job as well.
(04:03):
The frustration of losinganother job threw him into a
downward spiral, feeling allhope was lost.
His already unstable mentalcondition was rapidly
deteriorating.
He did try to get help.
He talked to his wife about hisconcerns and eventually made a
call on July 17th to get anappointment to seek help.
(04:24):
The receptionist that took thecall took his information down
and promised a return callwithin a few hours to schedule
the appointment.
The call never came.
The receptionist put it down asa non-crisis call, based
entirely off his calm demeanor,which means it would be two days
(04:49):
before they would call back toschedule an appointment.
Huberti was extremelyfrustrated after waiting by the
phone for hours, waiting for acall that would never come.
Eventually he got up and leftthe house without saying
anything.
He'd eventually come backwithin an hour, calm as if
nothing had happened.
The family had dinner and theywatched a movie together.
(05:10):
The next day they took the kidsto the zoo.
Huberti made some distressingcomments as they walked around.
He talked about how his lifewas over and that no one cared,
since no one wanted to call backto help him.
The most concerning comment wasthat society had had their
chance.
After leaving the zoo, theystopped for lunch at McDonald's.
(05:31):
Before returning home, as Ednawas laying on the bed, james
walked in to give her a kissbefore leaving.
When asked where he was going,he said he was going hunting
Hunting for humans.
Edna blew off the comment,thinking he was just in a
depressed mood.
He changed clothes and wrappeda 9mm Uzi, a Browning high-power
(05:52):
pistol and a 12-gaugeWinchester 1200 shotgun in a
blanket.
Before leaving the house,telling his daughter Zelia he
wouldn't be back, he hopped inhis Mercury Marquis and took off
down San Isidro Boulevard,passing a supermarket and post
office, before pulling into theMcDonald's parking lot just 200
(06:13):
yards from his apartment.
At 3.56 in the afternoon, theSan Isidro McDonald's was packed
and buzzing with noise.
Huberti entered relativelyunnoticed, carrying death in his
arms.
No one paid him much attentionuntil he pulled his shotgun on a
16-year-old employee, johnArnold.
The assistant manager,guillermo Flores, yelled at
(06:37):
Arnold, thinking it was somekind of joke.
Huberti pulled the trigger andthe gun failed to go off.
Arnold blew him off and turnedto walk away as Huberti stared
at his gun.
22-year-old restaurant managerNeva Cain reached the service
counter just as Huberti managedto get the shotgun to fire,
(06:57):
striking the ceiling.
Switching to the Uzi, he aimedit straight at Neva and fired
once, hitting her below her lefteye and killing her instantly.
The McMassacre had begun.
He aimed the shotgun back atArnold, firing it into his chest
as he yelled for everyone toget on the ground.
He yelled and snarled outthreats as he cussed at the
(07:18):
cowering crowd.
25-year-old Victor Riveraattempted to plead with Huberti,
begging him to stop the attack.
His pleas fell on deaf ears asHuberti yelled at him to shut up
, shut up, shut up, firing shotafter shot.
Rivera's screams filled therestaurant.
Fourteen shots later, he laydead on the floor.
The patrons tried to escape,hiding beneath tables and boots.
(07:42):
Huberti was undeterred.
His eyes settled on a group ofsix women and children huddled
together.
19-year-old Marina ElenaComanero-Silvas was shot and
killed with a single shot to thechest.
He turned his Uzi to 15-year-oldImelda Perez and her
(08:03):
nine-year-old sister, claudiaFiring.
Repeatedly, imelda was woundedwith a single shot to the chest.
Firing.
Repeatedly, imelda was woundedwith a single shot to the chest.
Her sister would not be solucky she would be killed after
being shot nine times.
11-year-old Aurora Pena waswounded when Huberti hit her
with a round from a shotgun inthe leg.
Her pregnant 18-year-old aunt,jackie Lynn Reyes, saved her
(08:27):
life when she shielded her withher own body For her bravery and
selflessness.
Huberty shot her 48 times withthe Uzi.
Her 8-month-old son criedbeside his mother's lifeless
body.
Huberty shot him once in theback with his pistol, killing
the child.
He next turned his attention tothe McDonald's play area,
(08:54):
stopping only once to shoot a62-year-old truck driver,
lawrence Herman Versluis.
He continued on to the playarea, spraying bullets into the
restaurant.
In the play area, he set hissights on a family hiding under
some tables.
Blith Herrera, 31, was hidingwith her 11-year-old son Mateo,
31, was hiding with her11-year-old son, mateo, while
her husband, ronald, 33, hid12-year-old Keith Thomas under
(09:15):
the table across the aisle.
Ronald and Keith were shot andwounded multiple times.
Blythe and Mateo would notsurvive after being shot in the
head multiple times.
Under a nearby table, erisdelceVargas, 31, shielded her
24-year-old friend, guadalupeDel Rio.
Hubert had shot the womenmultiple times, with Guadalupe
(09:35):
being hit multiple times andreceiving minor injuries.
Vargas was shot once in theback of the head.
She would survive the attack,only to die days later in the
hospital.
Exiting the play area,45-year-old Hugo Vesquez was
shot and killed with a singleshot to the chest Outside the
restaurant.
No one had any idea what washappening.
(09:56):
Police had been called withinminutes of the first shots being
fired, but had not arrived yet.
Lydia Flores, unaware of thehorrors going on inside, didn't
notice anything until she pulledup to the drive-thru window and
saw the bullet holes andhearing gunshots coming from
inside.
She quickly threw the car inreverse and backed into a fence,
(10:18):
before ducking down to hide inher car with her two-year-old
son until the massacre was over.
At the same time three11-year-old boys were
approaching the McDonald's toget some sodas.
Someone shouted a warning tostop the boys, but it was too
late.
Huberti had seen them andopened fire with both his Uzi
and shotgun.
David Delgado died instantlywhen he was shot in the head
(10:41):
multiple times.
Omar Hernandez was shot in theback repeatedly and died minutes
later.
Joshua Coleman was shot in theback, arms and legs Seriously
wounded.
He laid still in the parkinglot playing dead, fooling
Huberty and saving his life.
74-year-old Miguel Ulolaattempted to open the door for
(11:04):
his 69-year-old wife, ada.
As he opened the door, hubertyopened fire, killing Ada with a
shot to the face and injuringMiguel.
Holding his wife and cursingHuberti, he tried to wipe the
blood from her face.
Huberti fired again, killingMiguel with another shot to the
head.
At 410, estolfo Felix pulledinto the parking lot with his
(11:27):
wife, 23 year old-old Maricela,and four-month-old daughter,
carlita.
They mistook the broken glassfor signs of renovation.
They realized their mistakewhen Huberti opened fire on the
family.
All three were shot and wounded, with Carlita being the worst,
getting shot in the neck, chestand stomach.
They ran to get out of sightMaricela, thrusting Carlita into
(11:49):
the arms of a stranger, runningfrom the scene and begging her
to save her baby before shecollapsed against the parked car
.
All three would make it to thehospital and survive the attack.
Back inside, huberti checked aportable radio, listening for
news coverage, hearing nothing.
(12:09):
Huberty checked a portableradio, listening for news
coverage, hearing nothing.
He turned on some music beforestarting up shooting again.
In the kitchen he found sixemployees hiding.
He opened fire, killing21-year-old Paulina Lopez,
19-year-old Elsa Barboa Fierroand 18-year-old Margarita
Padilla.
17-year-old Alberto Leos wasinjured by several shots but
(12:31):
managed to escape to a utilityroom in the basement where he
waited out the attack with sixother people.
Returning back to the lobby,huberti fired shots at an
approaching fire truck beforeturning his attention to the
moans of pain coming from aninjured 19-year-old Jose Perez.
He ended his pain with a singleshot to the head.
(12:51):
11-year-old Aurora Pina openedher eyes as she laid wounded,
surrounded by her dead aunt andnephew.
Huberti saw her and threw a bagof fries at her, cussing her
out and shooting her three moretimes with his shotgun.
Despite this, she would survive.
He wandered around therestaurant, shooting up the
place and firing into the bodieslittering the ground.
(13:14):
He yelled and screamed andtried to justify his actions
during his nearly hour and ahalf rampage Outside.
The police were waiting Afterthe first calls came in.
Police were dispatched to thewrong McDonald's.
Precious minutes were lostbefore they realized the error.
Mike Rosario was the firstofficer on scene at 4.07.
(13:35):
He was forced back as Hubertifired on him and the ambulance
that arrived shortly after him.
He was sorely outgunned, armedwith only his .38 caliber
service revolver.
Life flight crews were put onalert and told to be prepared to
send in thehelicopters.
Within five minutes of Rosariocoming under fire, a command
(13:55):
post was established within twoblocks of the McDonald's and the
SWAT team alert was issued.
The McDonald's was completelysurrounded by cops.
As medical personnel was put onfull alert and choppers were
called in.
By 4.35, the first SWAT unitsarrived, taking up positions to
the north of the restaurant.
Within another 10 minutes, swatwould have the building
(14:18):
surrounded.
Two people managed to escapefrom the rear of the building at
this time.
They were quickly interviewedby police as they gave them
valuable information on who wasinside.
The heavily tinted windows ofthe McDonald's prevented a clear
view of the inside.
Until now, the police had noidea how many active shooters
were inside.
By 5.13, a SWAT team on theroof of the post office was
(14:41):
given the green light.
The authorization to shoot tokill Any SWAT team member with a
clear shot was now authorizedto
fire.
At 514, huberty fired out thewindows towards San Ysidro
Boulevard.
Swat responded with two shotsof their own, but with no clear
(15:03):
picture.
They failed to hit Huberty.
Then, at 517, huberty fucked up.
He stepped in front of a doorwith a shattered window.
Swat sniper Charles Fosterdidn't hesitate.
He fired his Remington rifle,sending a .308 round from the
roof of the post office rightinto Huberty's chest, shattering
(15:23):
his spine, before blowing aone-inch exit wound out his back
.
After an hour and 18-minuterampage, james Huberty lay dead
on the floor of the McDonald'she wreaked so much havoc in.
After firing nearly 300 roundsand killing 22 innocent people
and wounding 19 others, thenightmare was
(15:44):
finally over.
The days following the massacrewere filled with sorrow as the
community mourned their dead.
With the amount of wakes to beheld, local funeral homes worked
out a deal with the San IsidroCivic Center to hold all the
wakes there.
Mount Carmel Church in SanIsidro held an unending chain of
funeral masses.
(16:05):
Within two days of the attack,mcdonald's, ever eager to move
on and open back up, completelyrenovated the restaurant and
were ready to get back tobusiness as usual.
The community not so much.
They did not want the locationto open back up.
Mcdonald's eventually agreed tothe request and, within 10 days
(16:26):
of the massacre, tore down therestaurant and gave the property
to San Ysidro, with the onlystipulation that no other
restaurant go there.
They would then open anotherrestaurant a short distance away
.
They would also contribute amillion dollars to a survivor's
fund.
This property sat empty forover three years as discussions
(16:48):
on what to put there went backand forth.
Multiple memorials were put upand taken down throughout the
three years before the propertywas eventually sold off to
Southwestern College, whoplanned on putting an extension
center there.
The only provision to the salewas that a 300 square foot area
in front of the center be setaside for a permanent memorial
(17:11):
tothe victims.
The massacre would also shakethings up with the police
department.
At the time.
They were wholly unprepared fora crime of this magnitude.
This was the first massshooting conducted by a single
shooter, and police doctrine atthe time was not enough to
handle the situation.
San Diego invested heavily inthe police department for better
(17:33):
weapons and more training,there was a large focus on
getting in and neutralizing thethreat as quickly as
possible possible.
As people started to move onand life got back to normal,
family members of victims andsurvivors sued McDonald's for
failing to protect them from theattack, which is fucking
ridiculous.
(17:53):
The lawsuits were eventuallythrown out.
The courts ruled that nobusiness had a duty to protect
patrons from an attack like thisand that any standard method
businesses used to prevent anddeter crimes would have been
inadequate.
Since it was obvious JamesSchuberty could care less about
surviving, etna and her daughterstayed out of the community for
(18:16):
a few weeks before moving backto Ohio and, disgustingly, were
the first ones to receive apayout from the Survivors Fund.
The community was not amused bythis.
In 1986, she also filed a $5million lawsuit against
McDonald's and James' formeremployer Babcock Wilcox.
(18:36):
The lawsuit claimed that a poordiet of McDonald's and the
dangers of working withpoisonous metal caused the
attack.
Yeah, okay, she would alsoattempt to sue the gun
manufacturers, blaming them forselling guns to an unstable man.
Unsurprisingly, none of theselawsuits were successful and
(18:57):
hopefully she hurt herself justat least a tiny little bit
trying to jump through all thosemental hoops to blame everyone
except her husband for hiscrimes, and that was the 1984
San Ysidro McMassacre, thelargest mass shooting in
(19:18):
California history.
Thanks for listening and if youlike the show, please consider
leaving a rating or review onyour Apple choice.
And you can reach out to theshow at historiesofdisaster at
gmailcom with questions,comments or suggestions, as well
as following the show on socialmedia like Facebook or
(19:38):
Instagram or TikTok, youtubewhatever and share the episode.
Your friends will love it.
Take care of yourself out there.
Chase that dream.
Live for today, becausetomorrow is never guaranteed.
Thanks and goodbye.
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