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The Texas State Rifle Association and others preferred that the state allow its citizens to ].<ref name=Douglas911020/> ] ] ] vetoed such bills, but in 1995 her ] successor, ], signed one into force.<ref>{{cite news |last=Duggan |first=Paul |date=March 16, 2000 |title=Gun-Friendly Governor |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2000/03/16/gun-friendly-governor/1e9fb965-17ea-4abf-a87f-6e9c51b81902/ |newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=June 22, 2015 }}</ref> The law had been campaigned for by ], who was present at the massacre; both of her parents, Alphonse "Al" Gratia and Ursula "Suzy" Gratia, were killed by Hennard.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.texasarchive.org/library/index.php?title=2013_02220|title=The Luby's Massacre - Interview with Suzanna Gratia Hupp (1992)|last=Ruddy|first=Jim|date=1992|website=Texas Archive of the Moving Image|access-date=2018-10-25}}</ref> She later testified that she would have liked to have had her ] ],<ref>http://crimemagazine.com/lubys-cafeteria-massacre-1991</ref> 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 ]'s license.)<ref name=Kopel-Killeen/> Hupp testified across the country in support of concealed handgun laws, and was elected to the ] in 1996.<ref>{{cite web |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=June 19, 2006 |title=National Advisory Committee on Violence Against Women, Biographical Information |url=https://www.justice.gov/archive/ovw/docs/nac_web_bios.pdf |publisher=justice.gov |page=5 |access-date=February 17, 2011 }}</ref> The Texas State Rifle Association and others preferred that the state allow its citizens to ].<ref name=Douglas911020/> ] ] ] vetoed such bills, but in 1995 her ] successor, ], signed one into force.<ref>{{cite news |last=Duggan |first=Paul |date=March 16, 2000 |title=Gun-Friendly Governor |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2000/03/16/gun-friendly-governor/1e9fb965-17ea-4abf-a87f-6e9c51b81902/ |newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=June 22, 2015 }}</ref> The law had been campaigned for by ], who was present at the massacre; both of her parents, Alphonse "Al" Gratia and Ursula "Suzy" Gratia, were killed by Hennard.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.texasarchive.org/library/index.php?title=2013_02220|title=The Luby's Massacre - Interview with Suzanna Gratia Hupp (1992)|last=Ruddy|first=Jim|date=1992|website=Texas Archive of the Moving Image|access-date=2018-10-25}}</ref> She later testified that she would have liked to have had her ] ],<ref>http://crimemagazine.com/lubys-cafeteria-massacre-1991</ref> 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 ]'s license.)<ref name=Kopel-Killeen/> Hupp testified across the country in support of concealed handgun laws, and was elected to the ] in 1996.<ref>{{cite web |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=June 19, 2006 |title=National Advisory Committee on Violence Against Women, Biographical Information |url=https://www.justice.gov/archive/ovw/docs/nac_web_bios.pdf |publisher=justice.gov |page=5 |access-date=February 17, 2011 }}</ref>


Hupp and another survivor later recounted their experiences during the shooting in an episode of '']'' in 2012.<ref>https://alchetron.com/Lubys-shooting</ref> Hupp and another survivor later recounted their experiences during the shooting in an episode of ] in 2012.<ref>https://alchetron.com/Lubys-shooting</ref>


A pink granite memorial stands behind the Killeen Community Center with the date of the event and the names of those killed. A pink granite memorial stands behind the Killeen Community Center with the date of the event and the names of those killed.

Revision as of 20:33, 4 April 2021

Mass shooting that took place on October 16, 1991, at a restaurant in Killeen, Texas
Luby's shooting
Location of Killeen, Texas
LocationKilleen, Texas, U.S.
DateOctober 16, 1991; 33 years ago (1991-10-16)
12:39 – 12:51 p.m.
TargetCustomers and staff at a Luby's cafeteria, particularly women; first responders
Attack typeMass shooting, mass murder, murder-suicide, shootout, femicide
WeaponsSemi-automatic pistols:
Deaths24 (including the perpetrator)
Injured27
PerpetratorGeorge Hennard

The Luby's shooting, also known as the Luby's massacre, was a mass shooting that took place on October 16, 1991, at a Luby's Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas. The perpetrator, George Hennard, drove his pickup truck through the front window of the restaurant. He quickly shot and killed 23 people, and wounded 27 others. He had a brief shootout with police, refused their orders to surrender, and fatally shot himself.

At the time, the shooting was the deadliest mass shooting by a lone gunman in U.S. history, being surpassed 16 years later by the Virginia Tech shooting.

Incident

On October 16, 1991, 35-year-old George Hennard, an unemployed man who had been a member of the United States Merchant Marine, drove a blue 1987 Ford Ranger pickup truck through the plate-glass front window of a Luby's Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas at 12:39 p.m. Hennard then began firing from inside the truck while holding one Glock 17 and Ruger P89 9mm pistols. Hennard then exited the truck and then 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 then opened fire on the patrons and staff with both pistols. Hennard then circled around the Cafeteria, selectively picking his victims. After seeing a woman, Hennard said "You bitch," before then shooting her to death. Hennard then saw another woman hiding underneath a bench near the serving line, Hennard then said "Hiding from me, bitch?" before shooting her dead. Hennard then approached Steve Ernst who was hiding underneath a table before then shooting him. Steve then yelled, "Oh, God!" and then rolled over, holding his stomach. Hennard then shot Judy, Ernst's wife through the arm which went clean through and instead killed 70 year old Venice Ellen Henehan, who was Ernst's mother-in-law. During a brief lull in the shooting, Hennard then began to approach the table of 28 year old Tommy Vaughan in the rear of the cafeteria. Vaughn, who was huddled on the floor beside a window, then proceeded to throw himself through the window, creating an escape route for others. Moments later, dozens of people were pushing and shoving and knocking each other down as they made their escape. When police arrived a few minutes later, a third of the victims had managed to escape. Hennard shot and killed 23 people, ten of them with single shots to the head at point blank range, and wounded another 27.

October 16 was National Boss's Day, and the cafeteria was unusually crowded with around 150 people. At first, bystanders thought the crash was an accident, but Hennard started shooting patrons almost immediately. The first victim was veterinarian Michael Griffith. Another customer, Tommy Vaughn, threw himself through a rear window, sustaining injuries, but creating an escape route for himself and others. Hennard reloaded at least three times before police arrived and he engaged in a brief shootout with them. Wounded, he retreated to an area between the two bathrooms (people were hiding in these bathrooms and had blocked their doors). The police repeatedly told Hennard to surrender, but he refused, saying he was going to kill more people. Hennard was shot another two times by police, in the abdomen. Having depleted ammunition for one of his weapons and his injuries growing more severe, he committed suicide by shooting himself in the head with the final bullet left in the clip.

Deaths

Killed in the shooting were:

Name Age Hometown
Patricia Carney 57 Belton
Jimmie Caruthers 48 Austin
Kriemhild Davis 62 Killeen
Steven Dody 43 Copperas Cove/Fort Hood
Alphonse "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 65 Marlin
Connie Peterson 41 Austin
Ruth Pujol 55 Copperas Cove
Su-Zann Rashott 36 Copperas Cove
John Romero, Jr. 29 Copperas Cove
Thomas Simmons 33 Copperas Cove
Glen Arval Spivey 55 Harker Heights
Nancy Stansbury 44 Harker Heights
Olgica Taylor 45 Waco
James Welsh 75 Waco
Lula Welsh 75 Waco
Iva Juanita Williams 64 Temple
George Hennard 35 Sayre

Perpetrator

George Hennard
File:George Hennard.jpgHennard in 1983

An editor has nominated the above file for discussion of its purpose and/or potential deletion. You are welcome to participate in the discussion and help reach a consensus.
BornGeorge Pierre Hennard
(1956-10-15)October 15, 1956
Sayre, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedOctober 16, 1991(1991-10-16) (aged 35)
Killeen, Texas, U.S.
Cause of deathSuicide by gunshot
EducationMayfield High School
OccupationUnemployed

George Pierre Hennard was born on October 15, 1956, in Sayre, Pennsylvania in a wealthy family. Hennard was the son of a Swiss-born surgeon and a homemaker. He had two younger siblings, brother Alan and sister Desiree. Since the age of 5, Hennard and his family moved across the country as his father worked at several army hospitals. Hennard's 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. Hennard later worked as a merchant mariner, but was dismissed for drug use. Several months later, Hennard enrolled in a drug treatment program in Houston.

Early in the investigation of the massacre, the Killeen police chief said that Hennard "had an evident problem with women for some reason". 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 which Hennard used were purchased in February 1991 at Mike's Gun House, a gun shop in the town of Henderson, Nevada.

Hennard had begun to work at several different jobs, including construction crews in South Dakota and Killeen while living part-time in Henderson, Nevada with his mother in a redbrick colonial home in Belton that his family had purchased in 1980 shortly after moving to fort hood.

Hennard stalked two sisters, 23 year old Jill Fritz and 19 year old Jana Jemigan who lived two blocks away from him in his neighborhood prior to the massacre. He sent them a five-page letter in June, 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 who tried to destroy me and my family" and “You think the three of us can get together some day?” He also wrote that he was "truly flattered knowing I have two teenage groupie fans".

Possible motive

Hennard was described as reclusive and belligerent, with an explosive temper. He was discharged from the Merchant Marine on May 11th 1989 because of possession of marijuana and racial incidents, such as having his seaman papers suspended in May of 1982 after a racial argument with another shipmate. Numerous reports included accounts of Hennard's expressed hatred of women. An ex-roommate of his said, "He hated blacks, Hispanics, and gays. He said women were snakes and always had derogatory remarks about them, especially after fights with his mother." Survivors from the cafeteria said Hennard had passed over men to shoot women. 14 of the 23 people killed were women, as were many of the wounded. He called two of them a "bitch" before shooting them. In 1990, Hennard called Isaiah (Ike) R. Williams, a port agent for the national maritime union in Wilmington, California, stating that he needed a letter of recommendation in order to regain his papers and rejoin the Merchant Marine. "I don't recall having given him one," Williams claimed. Hennard had learned in mid-February that his attempt to be reinstated had been denied. Several months later, Hennard entered a drug treatment program in Houston.

Around 2 months before the shooting, Hennard entered a convenience store in Belton to buy breakfast. Mead, the clerk of the store, claimed that Hennard had leaned over the counter and said "I want you to tell everybody, if they don't quit messing around my house something awful is going to happen."

A week and a half before the shooting, Hennard collected his paycheck at a cement company in Copperas Cove and announced he was quitting. Hennard also wondered aloud what would happen if he killed someone. “He got to talking about some of the people in Belton and certain women that had given him problems,” a coworker Bubba Hawkins claimed. “And he kept saying, ‘Watch and see, watch and see.’ "

On October 15th, 1991 (Hennard's 35th birthday) Hennard spoke with his mother on the phone. On that evening, while eating a cheeseburger and small fries outside of belton, Hennard had a sudden outburst of rage as he watched television coverage of Clarence Thomas's conformation hearings. “When an interview with Anita Hill came on, he just went off,” Bill stringer, a manager claimed. “He started screaming, ‘You dumb bitch! You bastards opened the door for all the women!’ ”

Aftermath

See also: Gun laws in Texas
The memorial to those killed

An anti-crime bill was scheduled for a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives the day after the massacre. Some of the Hennard victims had been constituents of Rep. Chet Edwards, and in response he abandoned his opposition to a gun control provision that was part of the bill. The provision, which did not pass, would have banned some weapons and magazines like one used by Hennard.

Families of deceased victims, survivors and policemen received counseling for grief, shock and stress.

The Texas State Rifle Association and others preferred that the state allow its citizens to carry concealed weapons. Democratic governor Ann Richards vetoed such bills, but in 1995 her Republican successor, George W. Bush, signed one into force. The law had been campaigned for by Suzanna Hupp, who was present at the massacre; both of her parents, Alphonse "Al" Gratia and Ursula "Suzy" Gratia, were killed by Hennard. She later testified that she would have liked to have had her .38 revolver, 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.) Hupp testified across the country in support of concealed handgun laws, and was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1996.

Hupp and another survivor later recounted their experiences during the shooting in an episode of I survived... in 2012.

A pink granite memorial stands behind the Killeen Community Center with the date of the event and the names of those killed.

Present site

The restaurant reopened five months after the massacre, but closed permanently on September 9, 2000. As of 2020, a Chinese-American buffet called "Yank Sing" occupies the location.

See also

References

  1. ^ Jankowski, Philip (October 16, 2011). "Survivors reflect on Oct. 16, 1991, Luby's shooting". Killeen Daily Herald. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
  2. Mass Murderers. True Crime. Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life Books. 1993. ISBN 978-0783500041. Retrieved December 3, 2015. huberty.
  3. "Deadliest Mass Shootings in Modern US History Fast Facts". CNN. Retrieved September 24, 2019.
  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.
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Further reading

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