Memorial to Massacre Victims : Mass slaying: A long-awaited monument is unveiled at the site where a gunman killed 21 people and wounded 19 more at a McDonald’s.

Victoria Montemayor was a 17-year-old manager trainee in 1984 when police barred her from entering her job at a McDonald’s here where a crazed gunman was killing her co-workers and their customers.

Brushing tears from her cheeks, Montemayor, now 24, moved her camera Thursday through a crowd of 200 people outside Southwestern College for the dedication of a long-awaited monument to the slain. A student journalist at Southwestern College, she was assigned to cover the event.

With the negative publicity that the McDonald’s massacre generated, Montemayor and others said, it was important that something positive was finally following the tragedy for which many remember San Ysidro.

“(The memorial) means a lot. It really does,” said Montemayor. “Even though it’s taken them a long time to do it.”

On July 18, 1984, James Oliver Huberty walked into the restaurant screaming, “I’m going to kill you all,” and sprayed the room and parking lot with gunfire. He killed 21 people and wounded 19 before he was fatally gunned down by a police sharpshooter.

The fast-food restaurant was razed soon after and a one-building branch of Southwestern College was opened on the site three years ago.

Amid speeches, refreshments and choir music from Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Elementary School Choir, sadness for the slain and a sense of accomplishment was expressed by several residents and students.

Survivors and their relatives struggled with the city and the fast-food restaurant’s owners over compensation, and medical and psychiatric treatments relating to the incident as well as use of the tragedy site for a memorial.

The monument, which is directly in front of the college, consists of 21 hexagonal white marble pillars linked together in rows forming a pyramid, with a plaque bearing the victims’ names.

It was designed by Roberto Valdes, a 22-year-old Mexico City architecture student.

“The 21 hexagons represent each person that died,” he said. “And they are different heights representing the variety of ages and races of the people involved in the massacre. They are bonded together in the hopes that the community, in a tragedy like this, will stick together, like they did.”

Arnold Leon, who was a high school senior at the time of the massacre, said he missed a business class at Southwestern College to attend the memorial.

“You forget about things like (the massacre),” he said, “and we need little reminders . . .”