XPost: alt.private.investigator, alt.sci.sociology, alt.america   
   XPost: alt.education   
   From: thanks.democrats@splcenter.org   
      
   The Luby's Cafeteria Massacre of 1991   
      
   In a great twist of Texas-style irony, the mass murder at Luby's   
   Cafeteria in 1991, where 23 were shot to death and 20 wounded,   
   led not to calls for gun-control but to the passage of   
   legislation signed by Gov. George W. Bush that eased the way for   
   citizens to obtain concealed-carry licenses.   
      
   by Robert Walsh   
      
   On October 16, 1991, unemployed merchant seaman George "Jo Jo"   
   Hennard committed what was at the time the largest mass murder   
   in U.S. history at Luby's Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas, when he   
   shot to death 23 people and wounded 20 others before taking his   
   own life 13 minutes after his rampage began. The Luby's massacre   
   is still America’s third-largest mass shooting ever and the   
   largest non-school mass shooting in American history.   
      
   A Loner   
      
   But why? What would drive a person to do something so appalling?   
   And what kind of man was George Hennard   
      
   The answer to that would be a very disturbed, deeply troubled   
   man, according to many who knew him, although nobody felt he had   
   the potential for such a crime. In an interview with The New   
   York Times shop clerk Mary Mead described Hennard's general   
   demeanor and the difference in him just before the shootings:   
      
   “George never smiled when he came in here. He just seemed like   
   he had the world on his shoulders. He was a loner. He never   
   talked. But yesterday he seemed almost calm, even a little   
   friendly, for the only time I can remember. Usually, I was   
   scared of him.”   
      
   Mead had cause to know Hennard on a passing basis as he bought   
   breakfast at her workplace, six days a week. Other acquaintances   
   describe him as combative, impatient, rude, troubled and a   
   loner. One occasional drinking buddy, Tom Snyder, described him   
   as particularly obnoxious when drunk. In short, George Hennard   
   was never a people person.   
      
   Hennard was 35 years old at the time of the shootings, his   
   birthday was the day before the massacre. He was unemployed and   
   down on his luck. The son of a housewife and retired Army   
   officer, Hennard had previously served two years with the U.S.   
   Navy, gaining an honorable discharge before joining the Merchant   
   Marine in 1977.   
      
   His discharge from the Merchant Marine in May, 1989 was less   
   than honorable. He lost his place aboard ship when marijuana was   
   found in his room while his ship was docked in Oakland,   
   California. A second drug bust cost him his seaman’s papers   
   without which working at sea, the only job he seemed happy in,   
   was no longer open to him. He became progressively more   
   embittered, rude and difficult around people in general from   
   then on. The loss of his job signalled the beginning of his own   
   decline.   
      
   Colleagues aboard ship were glad to see him gone. As much as   
   Hennard enjoyed life at sea, his shipmates didn’t seem to enjoy   
   sharing a ship with him. Speaking to The New York Times, Ike   
   Williams, port agent for the national maritime union in   
   Wilmington, California, summed up Hennard’s behavior towards his   
   shipmates:“He was very loud and he appeared to be combative at   
   times. He would come in with a very cold look and be very   
   argumentative, loud, boisterous, sometimes cursing and swearing.”   
      
   Hardly atypical behavior in a sailor, a certain amount of   
   roughness isn’t unusual in that line of work. Hennard’s   
   boorishness and roughness was more obvious than usual and   
   certainly more than was comfortable for his shipmates. According   
   to Williams, Hennard never lasted long aboard any ship he was   
   assigned to. After his drug bust, Williams recalled Hennard   
   asking for a letter of recommendation enabling Hennard to regain   
   his seaman’s papers and return to the Merchant Marine. Williams   
   didn’t provide one.   
      
   In February, 1991, only months before embarking on his mass   
   murder binge at Luby's, Hennard learned that his attempt to   
   regain seagoing status had been denied. This fanned the flames   
   of Hennard’s entrenched rage at the world and, rather than face   
   his own personal difficulties, he decided to take out his   
   frustrations in the most destructive way possible.   
      
   Hennard immediately started his preparations for seeking his   
   revenge. He took a trip to the town of Henderson, Nevada, where   
   he visited Mike’s Gun House owned by Michael Buchanan. There he   
   purchased two pistols and plenty of ammunition. Despite his   
   having a history of drug abuse, he had little difficulty in   
   purchasing his weapons. That ease of purchase would soon cost   
   many innocent people their lives.   
      
   The Massacre at Luby's Cafeteria   
      
   Lubys Massacre Truck (Photo godfatherpolitics.com)Hennard spent   
   his time between buying his guns and committing his crime   
   unemployed, living at his mother’s house in Benton. Unemployed   
   and unemployable, at least at the only occupation he was suited   
   for, he brooded, waited and planned. Benton isn’t far from   
   Killeen but, while Benton is a small town, Killeen is a larger   
   town owing to the nearby military base at Fort Hood. Both are   
   typical Texas towns made up of urban sprawl and predominately   
   honest, hard-working people, different only in their size and   
   only a short drive apart.   
      
   Hennard began his assault on Luby's at the height of the lunch   
   hour by crashing his pickup truck through the glass front of the   
   cafeteria at 12:39 p.m. As the pickup truck came smashing   
   through the glass, the stunned diners were showered with glass   
   fragments. Initially thinking the truck had crashed   
   accidentally, some of the diners went to help the driver only to   
   be shot down where they stood. Hennard instantly stepped out of   
   his truck, one gun in each hand and, bellowing “This is what   
   Bell County did to me! This is payback day!”  and opened fire.   
      
   Carrying Glock 17 and Ruger P89 pistols with plenty of spare   
   clips, Hennard methodically circled the cafeteria where about   
   140 people were now scrambling to avoid the onslaught. As he   
   roamed around the dining room it seemed to be most intent on   
   killing women, frequently passing over men who were equally at   
   his mercy. He seemed to pick his targets with more care than the   
   typical lone gunman, many of whom simply kill anybody who   
   appears in front of them. He also went largely for shots most   
   likely to be fatal -- 10 of the 23 people killed were murdered   
   with gunshots to their heads rather than Hennard aiming   
   randomly. With seemingly total focus on killing as many people   
   as possible, he stalked round and round the cafeteria like a   
   predator, picking his targets, killing with an almost automatic   
   precision and absolute ruthlessness.   
      
   The Victims   
      
   The first to die was local veterinarian Michael Griffith who,   
   with bitter irony, had approached the crashed pick-up to offer   
   assistance, thinking this was simply an ordinary road accident.   
   Among the first to be wounded (and both of whose parents died in   
   the shooting) was Suzanna Hupp, later to become a Republican   
   member of the Texas House of Representatives and an opponent of   
   gun-control legislation. Hupp normally carried a .38 revolver in   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)