Luby's shooting
| Luby's massacre | |
|---|---|
 Location of Killeen, Texas | |
| Location | Killeen, Texas, U.S. |
| Date |
October 16, 1991 12:39 p.m.–12:51 p.m.[1] |
| Target | Patrons at Luby's |
Attack type | Mass shooting, mass murder, murder-suicide, shootout |
| Weapons | |
| Deaths | 24 (including the perpetrator) |
Non-fatal injuries | 27 |
| Perpetrator | George Hennard |
| Motive | Misogyny |
The Luby's massacre was a mass shooting that took place on October 16, 1991, at a Luby's in Killeen, Texas, United States. The perpetrator, George Hennard, drove his pickup truck through the front window of the restaurant, and immediately shot and killed 23 people, and wounded 27 others before shooting and killing himself. It is the fourth deadliest massacre by a single shooter in U.S. history.
Incident
On October 16, 1991, 35-year-old George Hennard, an unemployed[2] merchant mariner who was described by others as angry and withdrawn, with a hatred of women and ethnic minorities, drove his blue 1987 Ford Ranger pickup truck through the plate-glass front window of the restaurant.[3] He yelled, "All women of Killeen and Belton are vipers! This is what you've done to me and my family! This is what Bell County did to me...This is payback day!" He opened fire on the patrons and staff with both a 9mm Glock 17 pistol and a 9mm Ruger P89 pistol.[4][5] He stalked, shot, and killed 23 people, ten of them with single shots to the head, and wounded another 27 before committing suicide.[3] Approximately 140 people were in the restaurant.
It was National Boss's Day and the restaurant was crowded.[6][7] At first, bystanders thought the crash was an accident, but the shooting started almost immediately.[1] The first victim was veterinarian Michael Griffith.[8] Another patron, Tommy Vaughn, threw himself through a rear window, sustaining injuries, but provided an escape route for himself and others.[1]
Hennard reloaded at least three times before fleeing to the bathroom after a brief shootout with the police. During it, he was wounded by them four times. The massacre ended minutes later when he committed suicide by shooting himself in the head.[3][7]
Possible motive
Numerous reports included accounts of Hennard's hatred of women.[1][3][2] An ex-roommate of his said, "He hated blacks, Hispanics, gays. He said women were snakes and always had derogatory remarks about them, especially after fights with his mother."[3]
Survivors said Hennard passed over men to shoot women. Fourteen of the 23 people killed were women, as were many of the wounded. He called two of them a "bitch" before shooting them.[3]
Victims
Murdered in the shooting were:[1]
| Name | Age | Hometown |
|---|---|---|
| Patricia Carney | 57 | Belton |
| Jimmie Caruthers | 48 | Austin |
| Kriemhild Davis | 62 | Killeen |
| Lt. Col. Steven Dody | 43 | Copperas Cove/Fort Hood |
| Al Gratia | 71 | Copperas Cove |
| Ursula Gratia | 67 | Copperas Cove |
| Debra Gray | 33 | Copperas Cove |
| Michael Griffith | 48 | Copperas Cove |
| Venice Henehan | 70 | Metz, Missouri |
| Clodine Humphrey | 63 | Marlin |
| Sylvia King | 30 | Killeen |
| Zona Lynn | 45 | Marlin |
| Connie Peterson | 43 | Austin |
| Ruth Pujol | 36 | Copperas Cove |
| Su-Zann Rashott | 30 | Copperas Cove |
| John Romero, Jr. | 33 | Copperas Cove |
| Thomas Simmons | 55 | Copperas Cove |
| Glen Arval Spivey | 44 | Harker Heights |
| Nancy Stansbury | 44 | Harker Heights |
| Olgica Taylor | 45 | Waco |
| James Welsh | 75 | Waco |
| Lula Welsh | 64 | Waco |
| Juanita Williams | 64 | Temple |
Perpetrator
| George Hennard | |
|---|---|
 Hennard in 1983 | |
| Born |
Georges Pierre Hennard October 15, 1956 Sayre, Pennsylvania |
| Died |
October 16, 1991 (aged 35) Killeen, Texas |
| Cause of death | Suicide |
| Occupation | Unemployed |
| Killings | |
| Date |
October 16, 1991 12:39 p.m. – 12:51 p.m. (UTC-5) |
| Location(s) | Killeen, Texas |
| Killed | 23 |
| Injured | 27 |
| Weapons |
Glock 17 Ruger P89 |
George Hennard was born Georges Pierre Hennard on October 15, 1956 in Sayre, Pennsylvania, the son of a Swiss-born surgeon and a homemaker.[9] He had two younger siblings, Alan and Desiree.[10] His family later moved to New Mexico, where his father worked at the White Sands Missile Range near Las Cruces. After graduating from Mayfield High School in 1974, he enlisted in the U. S. Navy and served for three years, until he was honorably discharged.[11] He later worked as a merchant mariner, but was dismissed for drug use.[2] Early in the investigation of the massacre the Killeen police chief said that he "had an evident problem with women for some reason."[2] After his parents divorced in 1983, his father moved to Houston, and his mother moved to Henderson, Nevada. The Glock 17 and Ruger P89 9mm pistols he used were purchased between February and March 1991 at a gun shop in Henderson.
Hennard stalked two sisters who lived in his neighborhood prior to the massacre. He sent them a letter, part of which said: "Please give me the satisfaction of some day laughing in the face of all those mostly white treacherous female vipers from those two towns [Killeen and Belton] who tried to destroy me and my family."[7] He also wrote that he was "truly flattered knowing I have two teenage groupie fans."[12]
Aftermath
An anti-crime bill was scheduled for a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives the day after the massacre. Some of the victims had been constituents of Representative Chet Edwards, and in response he abandoned his opposition to a gun control provision that was part of the bill.[13][14] The provision, which did not pass, would have banned some weapons and magazines like one used by Hennard.[13]
The Texas State Rifle Association and others preferred that the state allow its citizens to carry concealed weapons.[13] Democratic governor Ann Richards vetoed such bills, but in 1995 her Republican successor, George W. Bush, signed one into force.[15]
The law had been campaigned for by Suzanna Gratia Hupp, who was present at the massacre where both of her parents were killed. She later testified that she would have liked to have had her gun during it, but said, "it was a hundred feet away in my car" (she had feared that if she was caught carrying it she might lose her chiropractor's license).[14] She testified across the country in support of concealed handgun laws, and was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1996.[16]
A pink granite memorial stands behind the Killeen Community Center with the date of the event and the names of those killed.
The present site
The restaurant reopened five months after the massacre, but closed permanently in September 2000. As of 2006, a Chinese-American buffet occupies the location.[17]
See also
- 2009 Fort Hood shooting and 2014 Fort Hood shooting, two other mass shootings in Killeen, Texas
- 2011 IHOP shooting, another massacre at a popular restaurant
- Brown's Chicken massacre, another massacre at a popular restaurant
- San Ysidro McDonald's massacre, the deadliest massacre shooting in the United States prior to the Luby's one[18]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 Jankowski, Philip (October 16, 2011). "Survivors reflect on Oct. 16, 1991, Luby's shooting". Killeen Daily Herald. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
- 1 2 3 4 Kennedy, J. Michael; Serrano, Richard A. (October 18, 1991). "Police May Never Learn What Motivated Gunman: Massacre: Hennard was seen as reclusive, belligerent. Officials are looking into possibility he hated women.". Los Angeles Times. p. 1.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Chin, Paula (November 4, 1991). "A Texas Massacre". People. Time Inc. 36 (17). Retrieved January 13, 2012.
- ↑ Woodbury, Richard (October 28, 1991). "Crime: Ten Minutes in Hell". Time. Time Inc. Retrieved June 24, 2015. (subscription required (help)).
- ↑ Dawson, Carol (1 January 2010). House of Plenty: The Rise, Fall, and Revival of Luby's Cafeterias. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. pp. 176–177. ISBN 9780292782341.
- ↑ Hart, Lianne; Wood, Tracy (October 17, 1991). "23 Shot Dead at Texas Cafeteria". Los Angeles Times. p. 1.
- 1 2 3 Hayes, Thomas C. (October 17, 1991). "Gunman Kills 22 and Himself in Texas Cafeteria". The New York Times. Retrieved August 15, 2007.
- ↑ Spellman, Jim (November 9, 2009). "Fort Hood attack stirs painful memories for '91 massacre survivor". CNN. Retrieved June 23, 2015.
- ↑ Dawson, Carol (1 January 2010). House of Plenty: The Rise, Fall, and Revival of Luby's Cafeterias. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. p. 171. ISBN 9780292782341. Retrieved 29 September 2015.
- ↑ "A Texas Massacre – Vol. 36 No. 17". PEOPLE.com. 1991-11-04. Retrieved 2016-11-04.
- ↑ "Texas massacre had eerie link to movie 'The Fisher King'". NY Daily News. Retrieved 2016-11-04.
- ↑ Kennedy, J. Michael; Serrano, Richard A. (October 18, 1991). "Police May Never Learn What Motivated Gunman: Massacre: Hennard was seen as reclusive, belligerent. Officials are looking into possibility he hated women.". Los Angeles Times. p. 2.
- 1 2 3 Douglas, Carlyle C. (October 20, 1991). "Dead: 23 Texans and 1 Anti-Gun Measure". The New York Times. Retrieved March 28, 2008.
- 1 2 Kopel, David B. (2012). "Killeen, Texas, Massacre". In Carter, Gregg Lee. Guns in American Society. 2 (2nd ed.). Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. pp. 648–650. ISBN 9780313386718. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
- ↑ Duggan, Paul (March 16, 2000). "Gun-Friendly Governor". Washington Post. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
- ↑ "National Advisory Committee on Violence Against Women, Biographical Information" (PDF). justice.gov. June 19, 2006. p. 5. Retrieved February 17, 2011.
- ↑ Nathan, Robert (October 15, 2006). "Luby's tragedy: 15 years later". Killeen Daily Herald.
- ↑ Kennedy, J. Michael; Serrano, Richard A. (October 18, 1991). "Police May Never Learn What Motivated Gunman: Massacre: Hennard was seen as reclusive, belligerent. Officials are looking into possibility he hated women.". Los Angeles Times. p. 3.
Further reading
- "Shooting rampage at Killeen Luby's left 24 dead". Houston Chronicle. August 11, 2001. Archived from the original on December 1, 2011.
- Winingham, Ralph (1997). "Texas massacre, fear of crime spur concealed-gun laws". San Antonio Express-News. Archived from the original on January 28, 1999.
Coordinates: 31°05′37″N 97°43′26″W / 31.09361°N 97.72389°W