Painful Memories Can Echo Long After Shooting Is Over

Survivors of the 1984 massacre at a McDonald’s restaurant in San Ysidro said Thursday that the Killeen killings resurrected images of death and suffering that continue to haunt their lives.

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

“(The Killeen killings) brought back memories from San Ysidro,” said Lola Manjarrez, 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 come to terms with the killings only recently. They said that survivors of the Killeen massacre could expect years of grief and fear, and recommended professional counseling to cope.

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

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

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

Clarissa Hernandez, 35, Omar’s sister, warned that families of the Killeen victims can expect long bouts of depression that she said 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.