Luby's massacre

Infobox civilian attack
title = Luby's massacre


location= Killeen, Texas, United States
target=Luby's
date = Wednesday, October 16, 1991
type = mass murder, murder-suicide,
fatalities = 24 (including the perpetrator)
injuries = 20
perps = George Hennard
weapons = Glock 17, Ruger P89

The Luby's massacre was a mass murder that took place on October 16, 1991, in Killeen, Texas, United States when George Jo Hennard drove his pickup truck into a Luby's Cafeteria and shot and killed 23 people, wounded another 20 and then committed suicide by shooting himself. It remained the deadliest shooting rampage in American history until the Virginia Tech Massacre.

Killings

On October 16, 1991, Hennard drove his 1987 Ford Ranger pickup truck through the front window of a Luby's Cafeteria at 1705 East Central Texas Expressway in Killeen, yelled "This is what Bell County has done to me!", then opened fire on the restaurant's patrons and staff with a Glock 17 pistol and later a Ruger P89. About 80 people were in the restaurant at the time. He stalked, shot, and killed 23 people and wounded another 20 before committing suicide. During the shooting, he approached Suzanna Gratia Hupp and her parents. Hupp had actually brought a handgun to the Luby's Cafeteria that day, but had left it in her vehicle due to the laws in force at the time, forbidding citizens from carrying firearms. According to her later testimony in favor of Missouri's HB-1720 bill [ [http://www.wmsa.net/gratia-hupp_1992.htm Transcription of Suzanna Hupp's testimony in favor of Missouri's HB-1720 bill] ] and in general [ [http://www.mclaughlin.com/library/transcript.asp?id=147 Transcript from The McLaughlin Group, broadcast May 20-21, 2000] ] [ [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6006926775914305210&q=%22gun+control%22&hl=en Video of Hupp's testimony before Congress, regarding bans on certain firearms] ] , after she realized that her firearm was not in her purse, but "a hundred feet away in [her] car", her father charged at Hennard in an attempt to subdue him, only to be gunned down; a short time later, her mother was also shot and killed. (Hupp later expressed regret for abiding by the law in question by leaving her firearm in her car, rather than keeping it on her person [ [http://www.wmsa.net/gratia-hupp_1992.htm Transcription of Suzanna Hupp's testimony in favor of Missouri's HB-1720 bill] ] .) One patron, Tommy Vaughn, threw himself through a plate-glass window to allow others to escape. [ [http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/first100/1001214.html Houston Chronicle article 2001 "Shooting rampage at Killeen Luby's left 24 dead"] ] Hennard allowed a mother and her four-year-old child to leave. He reloaded several times and still had ammunition remaining when he committed suicide by shooting himself in the head after being cornered and wounded by police. [ cite news
url= http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=travel&res=9C04E3D8113BF934A25753C1A967958260
last= Hayes
first= Thomas C
title= Gunman Kills 22 and Himself in Texas Cafeteria
date= 1991-10-17
publisher= The New York Times
accessdate= 2007-08-15 ] [ [http://www.kwtx.com/home/headlines/7048182.html KWTX, Luby’s Massacre Remains Among Nation’s Worst Mass Shootings] ] [cite journal| last =Kelly| first =Steve | title =Texas Chiropractor -- One of 24 Slain in Tragedy | journal =Dynamic Chiropractic| volume =09 | issue =25 | date = 1991-12-06| url = http://www.chiroweb.com/archives/09/25/08.html | accessdate = 2006-12-02 ]

Consequences

Reacting to the massacre, [ cite news
url= http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE0D91031F933A15753C1A967958260
last= Douglas
first= Carlyle C
title= Dead: 23 Texans and 1 Anti-Gun Measure
date= 1991-10-20
publisher= The New York Times
accessdate= 2008-03-28 ] in 1995 the Texas Legislature passed a "shall-issue" gun law, which requires that all qualifying applicants be issued a Concealed Handgun License (Texas's required permit to carry concealed weapons), removing the personal discretion of the issuing authority to deny such licenses. The law had been campaigned for by Suzanna Hupp, who was present at the Luby's massacre and both of whose parents were shot and killed. Hupp testified across the country in support of concealed-handgun laws, and was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1996. [ [http://www.ovw.usdoj.gov/nac/nac_web_bios.pdf U.S. Department of Justice, National Advisory Committee on Violence Against Women, Biographical Information] ] The law was signed by then-Governor George W. Bush and became part of a broad movement to allow U.S. citizens to obtain permits to carry concealed weapons. [ cite news
url= http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE6DB1438F935A35750C0A963958260
last= Verhovek
first= Sam Howe
title= States Seek to Let Citizens Carry Concealed Weapons
date= 1995-03-06
publisher= The New York Times
accessdate= 2008-03-28 ]

Comparisons

The Luby's massacre remained the deadliest criminal mass shooting by a single gunman in United States history until April 16, 2007, when the events comprising the Virginia Tech massacre occurred.

Victims

Fatalities from this shooting included:

The site

The Killeen Luby's closed and reopened after cleanup, only to struggle throughout the following years and finally driven to shut down operations on September 9, 2000. A Chinese buffet, Yank Sing, currently occupies the building.

ee also

* List of massacres
* Suzanna Gratia Hupp

References

* [http://www.kdhnews.com/archives/results.aspx?sid=12299&q=Hennard&t=def "Killeen Daily Herald"] "Luby's tragedy: 15 years later" (October 15, 2006)
* [http://archives.cnn.com/2000/US/09/11/lubys.massacre.ap/ CNN.com] "Luby's in Killeen, Texas, site of 1991 massacre, closes its doors" (September 11, 2000)
* [http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/nation/guns/part2/gunside1.html "San Antonio Express-News"] Guns in America, Part II, "Texas massacre, fear of crime spur concealed-gun laws"