San Diego to Erect Memorial at San Ysidro Site of Mass Slaying

Nearly two years after the worst mass slaying by a single gunman in U.S. history occurred at a McDonald’s restaurant in San Ysidro, San Diego officials have decided to erect a memorial on the site where 21 people were killed and 19 others were wounded.

City officials have not decided how large the memorial will be or what form it will take, said George Penn, assistant to City Manager Sylvester Murray.

On July 18, 1984, James Oliver Huberty walked into the restaurant screaming, “I’m going to kill you all” and began firing indiscriminately. For more than an hour, Huberty sprayed the room and the adjacent parking lot with gunfire until he was shot and killed by police.

McDonald’s Corp. demolished the restaurant and donated the site, three-fourths of an acre in the border community of San Ysidro, to the city in 1984. The lot has remained vacant while officials have debated whether to build a monument or sell or lease the property.

The issue of building a memorial on the site has been controversial in the San Ysidro community, with many people arguing that it would be a tribute to a mass murder. But many relatives of people who died in the massacre have requested that some sort of monument be built. In the weeks after the massacre, nearly 30,000 people signed a petition requesting a memorial.

“I think the important thing is that the city is doing something,” Penn said. “I think that many people in the community felt that it was put on a back burner. People felt the city wasn’t concerned. Right now it’s important to let people know we are concerned and we want to please them as best we can.”

Last week, Murray told the San Ysidro Chamber of Commerce that the memorial might consist of a fountain surrounded by landscaping and walkways, with some of the property used for a parking lot. The site, at 522 W. San Ysidro Blvd., is adjacent to a post office.