Massacre Triggers Painful Memories

Survivors of the 1984 massacre at a McDonald’s restaurant said Thursday that the Killeen, Tex., killings resurrected images of death and suffering that continue to haunt their lives more than seven years later.

Some still can’t bear to talk about the Wednesday afternoon when James Oliver Huberty, an unemployed security guard, stalked the patrons of a San Ysidro McDonald’s on July 18, 1984, and methodically killed 21 men, women and children.

The Killeen killings “brought back memories from San Ysidro,” said Lola Manjarrez, an employee of a paper products company who was near the door of the McDonald’s when Huberty began shooting. “ . . . You’re trying to get me to remember things I don’t want to remember. I just don’t want to think about that.”

Others said they had only come to terms with the killings recently and still can’t be in public places without discomfort. They said survivors of the Killeen massacre can expect years of grief and fear, and they recommended professional counseling to help cope with those problems.

“Once you live through something like this, it stays with you forever,” said Imelda Velarde, 22, who was inside the restaurant and was wounded in the left hand by Huberty. Her 9-year-old sister, Claudia Perez, was killed by Huberty.

“If the (Killeen) survivors are like me, they will always be uncomfortable going inside places like restaurants and department stores,” Velarde said. “I’m always looking over my shoulder now when I’m in these places.”

Seven years ago, Adelina Hernandez’s 11-year-old son, Omar, was among the 21 victims. Until last summer, Hernandez, 60, a volunteer at Sunset Elementary School in San Ysidro, had been unable to talk about her son’s death.

“Several of Omar’s friends graduated from high school in June and came to visit me,” she said. “Omar would have been graduating with them. Suddenly, it became a little easier for my husband and me to talk about it without too much pain.

“Then we hear about these killings in Texas. Once again, our hearts have begun to ache, and the painful memories of 1984 have returned,” said Hernandez, tears rolling down her cheeks.

Before George Jo Hennard, 35, killed 22 people at the Luby’s Cafeteria in Killeen on Wednesday, Huberty had the distinction of being the person responsible for the single worst mass slaying in U.S. history. Armed with various firearms, Huberty wounded 15 more people before a San Diego police sniper fatally shot him once in the chest.

Clarissa Hernandez, Omar’s sister, warned that families of the Killeen victims can expect long bouts of depression that can be overcome only with counseling from religious leaders and medical experts. Employers should also expect profound changes in family members, whose job performance will suffer, she said.

“Their supervisors and employers should be patient with them. In my case, after we buried my brother, my mind was blank, and my grief was affecting my job. I couldn’t stop thinking of Omar. After a while, comments by my supervisor made me afraid for my job. I worried that small things would cause me to get fired,” said Clarissa Hernandez, 35, a computer operator for the Navy.

She said she went through long periods of counseling that helped her deal with her grief. But the memories of the massacre remain with her every day, she said.

San Diego psychologist Michael Mantell, who counseled police officers and survivors of the McDonald’s massacre, said the Killeen massacre might help some San Ysidro survivors who have been unable to deal with their experiences through the years.

“There are still some people who have tried hard to avoid dealing with the tragedy and still deny it,” he said. “This may be something that will force them to re-examine the San Ysidro massacre. . . . Along comes another incident remarkably similar in many ways--another restaurant in a small town. When they face this, some may not be able to keep their feelings closed and buried from the San Ysidro event. They’ll have to deal with it.”