[119] McDonald's, San Ysidro, California

covered incessantly on the news media. Few shooters committed these types of crimes for the fame or infamy that followed. Today's case is dedicated to the nineteen injured survivors and the twenty two deceased victims. Most news accounts of the shootings report twenty one deceased victims, but one victim was pregnant when she was murdered. It's for this reason that we are acknowledging all twenty two Active Shooter. The podcast is a High five Holly production, and I'm your host JT.

If you've listened to our prior episodes, you know that the Active Shooter podcast team has taken the no notoriety pledge and we will not be sharing the real name of the shooters that we cover. We will be giving the shooters a pseudonym and refer to them by that name throughout the episode. This will help in clearing up any confusion in the story while remaining true to our pledge and not naming the shooter by their actual name.

We will refer to today's shooter as How. On Sunday, July fifteenth, nineteen eighty four, Hal confided to his wife that he was worried he was suffering from a mental health break of sorts. Whatever conversation or action ensued isn't known. Two days later, on Tuesday, July seventeenth, How contacted a San Diego mental facility inquiring about help for himself. Hal

spoke with a receptionist and asked for an appointment. He left contact information with the person he spoke with, and they responded that someone would contact Hal back within a few hours. His wife later reported that Hal sat next to the telephone for several hours, waiting and willing the phone to ring. It never did. The person How talked to would later report that How seemed calm when they spoke, and he indicated that he was never hospitalized for mental

health issues in the past. As a result, the call was flagged as a non crisis inquiry, which was to be handled within forty eight hours, and not the several hours that How believed it would be. After staring blankly at the phone for a very long period, Hal got up, exasperated and walked out of the house. He hopped atop his motorcycle, rolling away. His family had no idea where

he was going, but eventually he returned and things seemingly improved. Wednesday, July eighteenth, nineteen eighty four, was cloudy most of the day, although temperatures varied from the high seventies to the low eighties. The days started so normal and typical that the juxtaposition of how the day ended defies description. How his wife and their kids went to the San Diego Zoo. The couple talked about How's breakdown the previous day, and he

told her that he thought his life was over. He was clearly depressed, so they left the zoo, stopping for a quick bite at a McDonald's in the Claremont neighborhood of San Diego. They drove home and after a bit, How went into his and his wife's bedroom, where she was sitting on the bed. Hal leaned down and kissed her, saying that he came in because he wanted to kiss her goodbye. She asked where he was going, saying that

she was going to be preparing dinner soon. He looked at his wife and replied that he was quote going hunting, hunting for humans. How wore a maroon T shirt and camouflage pants and had a gun slung over his shoulder. He carried a box of ammunition in some sort of package that was wrapped in a checkered blanket. Exiting the bedroom, How was walking towards the front door when he caught sight of his daughter. He looked over and said, goodbye.

I won't be back. Hal drove a Mercury Marquis carrying a nine millimeter Browning HP, a nine millimeter semi automatic long barrel Uzi, and a twelve gage Winchester twenty one hundred pump action shotgun. He was prepared for a one man war, and hunting humans is exactly what he was prepared to do. McDonald's, situated at five point twenty two Sanya Sidro Boulevard, was a busy franchise located in the Sanya Sidro neighborhood of San Diego. There were about forty

five people inside of the restaurant eating. Hal entered and walked towards the counter. He was approximately fifteen feet from sixteen year old John Arnold, when, without hesitation, he aimed and fired, only nothing happened. Thinking this was some sort of sick joke, John started retreating back to the ca where twenty two year old store manager Neva Cain stood. Hal took out the ouzi and shot Neiva, hitting her in the face just below the left eye. She passed

moments later. Hal then shot John, hitting him in the arm and chest. For nearly two full hours, John laid motionless, pretending to be dead until he could be saved. Initially, he thought they were merely being robbed and the shooter would leave. John never expected that the place he worked and felt pretty safe for the most part, would be

under attack for nearly two hours. Besides initially hollering for everyone to get on the ground, how made many other comments, including racist epithets and yelling that he had quote killed a thousand and planned to kill quote one thousand more. A restaurant patron, twenty five year old Victor Rivera, tried to intervene, imploring how not to shoot any anyone else. His efforts were met with gunshots. Hal repeatedly uttered shut up,

shut up, as he fired fourteen bullets into Victor. The initial nine to one one calls began streaming in only minutes after the first shots. Early reports indicated that there was a child shot, but the child was raced next door to the post office. The dispatcher accidentally sent officers to another McDonald's that was about two miles away from where the shooting actually was, thereby delaying the police response by several crucial minutes. Nearly ten minutes after the first

nine to one to one call, police finally arrived. Officer Miguel Rosario cruised up to the restaurant and was immediately fired upon by hol On set for two forty five at four hundred question as he took four calls on it three reporter was two forty five, shooting a victim of small child, a little girl.

and overall police response was massive. A one hundred and seventy five law enforcement officers were installed at various strategic locations. At one point, an employee from the restaurant was able to escape through the back door and managed to communicate to police that there was only one shooter. They were very well armed and shot with abandon. No one was safe, not children or elderly, or men or women. House shot anyone and everyone he could. And he was not holding hostages.

This was not a robbery. This was a madman with a purpose, but plenty of determination. I'm taking around tanport. Where are you? I am a part McDonald shot Stampire now at.

and employees. Periodically, How would shout about how he didn't deserve to live and how he served time in Vietnam, although it was later reported that he hadn't actually ever

served in any branch of the military. It must have been so eerie seeing the psychotic man with several guns dancing around the McDonald's, shouting that he didn't deserve to live, all while shooting innocent people inside of the restaurant who did a little over an hour after the madness ensued, police were given authorization to take out the shooter if

they were able to obtain an unobstructed shot. At approximately five seventeen pm, How walked from around the service counter towards the front door, entrance, which was near the drive through window. Outside, twenty seven year old SWAT team member Charles Foster managed to catch a clear sight of how

firearm poised and ready to shoot. Foster peered into his scope and he could see Hal's neck and torso perched atop a post office next to the McDonald's, he drew a single, deep breath and fired a single round from about thirty five yards away. The bullet struck Hal in the chest, severing his order just below the heart before exiting out through his spine. It was a precisely executed, deadly shot. Moments later, a police sergeant entered the restaurant,

his service weapon raised and pointed towards Hal. He glanced over seeing a female shooting victim who was alive, and asked her if Hal was the shooter. She simply nodded in the affirmative, and with that, seventy seven minutes of sheer terror was over. How fired at least two hundred and fifty seven rounds, that is just over an average of three bullets per minute for seventy seven minutes. The shooting might have ended, but the trauma of surviving such

an attack seems nothing short of insurmountable. There were only ten patrons inside who were left untouched by gunfire, six of which were hiding in the basement of the restaurant. Many of the injured victims were using McDonald's napkins to self treat their injuries. Seventeen people were murdered inside of the restaurant, including an unborn child, and four were murdered just outside of the restaurant near the entrance. Of the deaths.

Thirteen were gunshot wounds to the head, seven were gunshot wounds to the chest, and one, eight month old, Carlos Reyes, was killed by a gunshot wound to his back. The scene looked like a war zone, and even the sight of it from outside witnesses was highly traumatizing. Twenty two year old Paulina Aquino was from Chula Vista, California. A native of Tijuana. She lived in the United States for about four years prior to the shooting and worked at

McDonald's for about five months before she was murdered. Lawrence Hermann vs Leuis, nicknamed Captain, moved to Chula Vista from Iowa in the late nineteen forties. The sixty two year old was once stationed at Pearl Harbor during World War Two. Nineteen year old Elsa Borboa was from Sandy Sidro and a very recent graduate of Southwest High School. She was working at McDonald's to earn money for college. Twenty three year old Neva Cain was from San Diego and was

the manager at McDonald's. She was married only one month before she was killed. Maria Alna Colmenero Silva was an eighteen year old eleventh grader. She was at McDonald's because it was her very favorite restaurant to d at. Eleven year old David Flores was a great student from Sandy Seidro who loved to play sports. He was at McDonald's with his friends Omar and Joshua. Joshua was injured, but

Omar was also murdered along with his best friend. Eleven year old Omar Hernandez was fluent in both English and Spanish and was a fifth grader at Sunset Elementary School who was described as an outgoing, brilliant young boy. Thirty one year old Blythe Reagan Herrera was a housewife from Orange, California. She was at McDonald's with her husband, son, and son's friend. Her husband and son's friend were injured but survived. Her son, Matteo, was killed with his mother, six month old was left

at home with her parents. Matteo Herrera was eleven years old born on June twenty sixth, nineteen seventy three in Los Angeles County. He was buried near his mother at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Cyprus, California. Twenty two year old Gloria Lopez Gonzalez was born on October eleventh, nineteen sixty one, and was from Rosato, Mexico. Jose Rubin Losano Perez was born on April third, nineteen sixty five, in California.

The nineteen year old was buried in Tijuana, Mexico. Nine year old Claudia Perez was from Sandy Sidro and had recently completed the third grade at Willow Elementary School. She loved all sports, but most especially softball. Claudia was a happy, yet quiet young girl that was incredibly close to her fifteen year old sister, who was also shot but survived. Eighteen year old Jackie Wright Reyes was a housewife from San Ya Sidro who was the youngest of five sisters

and a brother. Her little boy, Carlos was with her and he was also shot and killed. Jackie was pregnant at the time, and her unborn child was also killed. Nearly an entire family was taken from this world in the blink of an eye November fifteenth, nineteen eighty three in Chula Vista. The infant was buried with his mother and unborn sibling at La Vista Memorial Park. Twenty five year old Victor Maximilian Rivera was born in Mexico but raised in San Diego after moving to the United States

when he was four. The young man loved playing softball and was at McDonald's with his wife and two daughters, who each survived the shooting. Margherita Padilla was from San Diego and a recent Sweetwater High School graduate who absolutely loved children. The eighteen year old was planning to attend Southwest College in the fall. Forty six year old Hugo l of Alasquez was from Mexico City and was serving as the supervisor of provincial banks for Banamex when he

was killed. He was also a temporary manager of the Tijuana District Banks. Aida Velasquez Victoria was a sixty nine year old woman who was born on June twenty sixth, nineteen fourteen, in Tijuana, Mexico. Seventy four year old Miguel Uloa Victoria was born on November sixteenth, nineteen o nine, and he was from Tijuana. He was married to Aida, who was also murdered, and the one comfort is that they were together, clutching on to each other into eternity.

Thirty one year old arist Delci Vuelvas Vargas was from Tijuana. He survived the shooting for about twenty four hours after being rushed to the Universe of California Medical Center in San Diego. The family made Aristolcey's kidneys available for transplant, thus likely saving another life despite their own devastating loss. Michelle Dianne Carncross was born in Orange County, California, on April second, nineteen sixty six. She was buried at Magnolia

Memorial Park in Garden Grove, California. Forty one year old Hal was born on October eleventh, nineteen forty two, in Canton, Ohio, the second of two children. His father was a quality inspector and his mother was a homemaker. Howe's folks were both quite religious, and the family regularly attended services at the local Methodist church. When he was three, Hal contracted polio, which caused him to have to wear steel and leather

braces on each leg. While he eventually made a full recovery, How walked a slighth limp for the remainder of his life, a constant reminder of his childhood illness. In nineteen fifty, How's father purchased a one hundred and fifty five acre farm in Mount Eaton, Ohio, which is an extremely rural area that is mostly populated by the Amish and Mennonites. How's mother was incensed that her husband would make such

a purchase. She wasn't at all interested in living that life and flatly refused to even visit the property, and she eventually abandoned her family altogether. She moved to Tucson, Arizona, where she performed sidewalk preaching as a Pentecostal missionary. As you can imagine, How was very negatively impacted by his mother's casting a side of her family. As a young boy, he couldn't understand how or why she would leave him. There was a time when How's father reported that he

found How near the chicken coop sobbing hysterically. While his father eventually remarried, How really wasn't the same after she left. How wasn't known to have many friends, and indeed, during those times, he likely was outcast due to his own

health issues, and his behavior was described as sullen. During the seventh grade, How was the only boy who didn't play for the school's football team, which was clearly due to his illness, but it was yet one more thing to cause the other children to view him as different. When he was in high school at Waynedale High, How

was bullied and teased on a near daily basis. He was an easy target with his limp, his family's deep religious beliefs, and his lack of interest in sports, friends, or anything that other high schoolers of that era did. In fact, the only real interest Hal seemed to have was in target shooting. He loved target practice and it was the only thing that seemed to bring him joy. A family friend later said that Hal was a strange

boy who could always be found practicing target shooting. When he was a teen, Hall was already something of a gunsmith because of how much time he spent with firearms. He graduated high school in nineteen sixty fifty first out of the seventy seven students in his class. In nineteen sixty two, Hal enrolled at Malone College intending to study sociology, but he changed course and enrolled at Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science. How excelled there and graduated in nineteen sixty

four with honors, earning himself a funeral director's license. The following year, he obtained an embalmer's license. How met a woman while he was attending classes at Malone College, and the two began dating. They married in nineteen sixty five, and not long after, Hal landed a job with a funeral home in Canton, Ohio. The job went not great.

Hal didn't interact well with others. He was an introvert, which isn't a bad thing in and of itself, but Hal was very quiet and he really didn't like other people. He was an excellent embalmer, but he was a terrible director. As such, He encountered many meetings with his supervisor, meetings that weren't positive and never went well for Hal. He stuck it out for about two years before quitting and

choosing a whole other profession entirely. He became a welder working for a local company before being hired by another company for a higher wage in June of nineteen sixty nine. Though his personality wasn't friendly, Hal was a good worker, reliable, and always working over time when asked. He earned several promotions and made about twenty five to thirty thousand dollars annually, which is about the equivalent of one hundred and forty two to one hundred and seventy thousand dollars annually in

today's world. In other words, he was financially successful. Hal and his wife moved to a beautiful, threat three story home and a wealthy neighborhood of Masalon, Ohio. Hal and his wife moved to a beautiful three story home in a wealthy neighborhood of Massillon, Ohio. Their lovely home was destroyed by a fire on February first, nineteen seventy one. The fire originated in the ductwork of the kitchen stove,

and it quickly spread. The couple loved the neighborhood so much that they ended up purchasing a new home on the exact same street. Hal enjoyed privacy buying a home that sat behind several very large trees. He installed heavy drapes on all of his windows and kept them shut, and even implemented a triple lock system on each of the heavy doors that went in and out of his home. The couple continued their success by later purchasing and renting

out an entire complex of apartments. They managed the building, which seemed to do very well for them. In nineteen seventy two and nineteen seventy four, each of their two daughters was born. On the surface, he seemed to have everything going for him, but there was a dark side to hal. He had numerous domestic violence incidents with his family and was known to punch, slap, and threaten his daughters by holding a knife to their throat. The abuse

was not limited to the children. He often hurt his wife, and one such incident caused her to file a police report with the Canton Police and Children and Family Services, claiming that how injured her jaw. She reported later that he only hit her once. We urged listeners not to

blame her or question why she wouldn't just leave. Domestic abuse is a systematic breakdown of a person, and abusers typically gained power over their victims by means of controlling finances, the children, the home, everything, leaving victims and survivors with few resources or places to go but back. How's wife tried to get him into therapy or counseling, but he refused, so she did what most women do in her situation. She tried her best to never agitate him or make

him angry. Brilliantly, she managed to convince How that she could tell his future by reading tarot cards, and somehow this seemed to calm Hell enough to follow her advice. How's criminal behavior was not limited to assaults against his family. In nineteen eighty, he was arrested her disorderly conduct, which coincidentally is the only actual conviction on his criminal record, despite his abhorrent behavior. The incident involved in argument with

a gas station worker. He pleaded no contest on October fifteenth, nineteen eighty and was eventually found guilty in order to pay fines and costs. In November of nineteen eighty two, How was laid off from his job, causing him to become consumed with fear of his financial situation and the ability to provide for his family. His fear manifested an anger and self loathing and one coworker recalled Hal saying that if he couldn't take care of his family, he

would kill himself and quote take everyone with him. How's wife later reported that after the layoff, he started hearing voices, and indeed, in nineteen eighty three, he took a loaded pistol and held it to his temple, threatening to commit suicide. His wife was able to talk him out of it, but there doesn't appear to be any effort to seek

mental health treatment at this point. That same year, the couple sold the apartment building for one hundred and fifteen thousand dollars, and that summer they applied for residency in Mexico, where How believed that the money from the apartment building sale would last his family longer. He intended to move to Tijuana, Mexico and search for employment opportunities there. In October of nineteen eighty three, the family picked up and

moved as planned. The majority of their belongings were left in storage back in Ohio, most everything except How's firearms, AMMO and survival gear. They lasted all of three months in Tijuana. How wasn't able to find a job. They were all miserable and How deeply regretted his decision to move there. They moved back to the States, but this time they stayed on the West Coast and moved just across the border to the Sanya Sigro neighborhood of San Diego.

At that time, Sanya Sidro was a mostly poverty stricken district of San Diego, with a population in nineteen eighty four of about thirteen thousand residents. The family rented a small apartment in the Cottonwood Apartments while Hal searched for employment. Neighbors at the apartment say that How was overtly rude to them and he didn't make a great impression. Halle responded to a newspaper advertisement that offered a security guard

training course through a federally funded program. He completed the course on April twelfth, nineteen eighty four, and was immediately offered a job with a security firm out of Chula Vista, which he accepted, and he was assigned to a condominium complex. How worked hard enough that he was able to afford to have the family's belonging ship from Ohio. They moved once more to another apartment, a two bedroom on April Road.

A week before the shooting on January tenth, Hall was fired from the security guard job due to poor work performance and physical instability. Those who knew how describe him as irrasable and almost paranoid. He was seemingly obsessed with guns and was a self described survivalist. He leaned towards conspiracy theories, believing that there would be an escalation of the Cold War and that the presidents Carter and Reagan, and the United States government were secretly conspiring against him.

The reality was he was indeed a conspiracy theorist as well as what we'd call in modern times a prepper. He stocked his house with non perishable foods and stockpiled guns and other weapons, genuinely believing that the apocalypse was imminent. Hall owned so many firearms that one person claimed that no matter where house stood or sat in the home, he was within arm's reach of a gun, a gun

that was loaded with the safety off. There is little else known about his wife and daughters after the shooting. Following the shooting, McDonald's temporarily suspended all radio and TV advertisements in a show of solidarity. Burger King also temporarily pulled all advertising. Within only two days, of the shooting,

McDonald's was completely renovated and redecorated. However, on July twenty fourth, community leaders and executives with the McDonald's Corporation made the difficult decision that the store would be completely demolished and a new one rebuilt at another location. McDonald's rebuilt their new restaurant two blocks from the original location. On September

twenty sixth, the closed restaurant was officially torn down. McDonald's donated the property to the City of San ya Sidro, with the only stipulation being that no other restaurant be allowed to be constructed on the site. The property was eventually sold to Southwestern College in February of nineteen eighty eight for one hundred and thirty six thousand dollars. The purchase agreement included a clause that a three hundred square foot area would be set aside as a permit memorial

to the twenty one shooting victims. The memorial site was unveiled in nineteen ninety and it's made up of twenty one hexagonal pillars made of white marble, and each bore the name of a shooting victim. Over time, however, the memorial has become surrounded by the new School, and if you didn't know what the memorial was specifically for, or didn't take the time to stop and read the plaque,

you might mistake the memorial as something different entirely. A documentary directed by Charlie Minn called seventy seven Minutes was filmed in twenty sixteen and offers in depth insight about the shooting and includes interviews with several of the survivors. We encourage our listeners to watch. The documentary can be

found and streamed on most streaming services. You see, we all have the unique ability to help prevent such a catastrophic event from happening if we keep our eyes and ears open and never hesitate to report when something or someone just doesn't seem right. With the delicate balance of mental health reform, education, active shooter training, and common sense gun laws, we may one day realize the dream, the dream that there will be no more active shootings. We

pray that love will prevail over hate. Too many have died, we should say to ourselves, not one more. In the meantime, we urge our listeners to stay aware of your surroundings and keep in touch with your loved ones. If you see something, say something, you never know how many lives you'll be saving. Thank you for listening to today's episode of Active Shooter the Podcast. Remember, if you see something, say something, there's no telling how many lives you may

be saving. A big thank you to Darren Curtis, who composed some of the songs on our show. You can find him online at www dot Darrencurtis music dot com. Make sure to check us out on social media. You can find us on Facebook at Active Shooter the Podcast and on Twitter at podcast Active. Thank you and be safe.