The San Ysidro McDonald's massacre was a mass shooting which occurred at a McDonald's restaurant in the San Ysidro neighborhood of San Diego, California, on July 18, 1984. The perpetrator, 41-year-old James Huberty, fatally shot 22 people, including an unborn baby, and wounded 19 others before being killed by a police sniper approximately 77 minutes after he had first opened fire.
At the time, the massacre was the deadliest mass shooting by a lone gunman in U.S. history, being surpassed seven years later by the Luby's shooting.
Chain of events
Prior to incident
On July 15, 1984, James Huberty commented to his wife, Etna, that he suspected he had a mental health problem. Leaving his contact details with the receptionist, Huberty was assured the clinic would return his call within hours. According to his wife, Huberty sat quietly beside the telephone for several hours, awaiting the return call, before abruptly walking out of the family home and riding to an unknown destination on his motorcycle. Unbeknownst to Huberty, the receptionist had misspelled his name as "Shouberty".