# What's the First Mass Shooting You Remember? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 20, 2018, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-mass-shooting-you-remember/812779 "2018-04-20T14:29:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2018, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-mass-shooting-you-remember/812779/21 "2018-04-20T15:32:39Z")
San Ysidro McDonald’s incident. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2018, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-mass-shooting-you-remember/812779/22 "2018-04-20T15:37:32Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > University of Texas tower shooting in 1966. Charles Whitman killed 16 and injured 31. > > [University of Texas tower shooting - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Texas_tower_shooting?wprov=sfla1) I remembered the Texas Tower as soon as I read your post. The first killing that came to my mind was Richard Speck a few weeks earlier, July 13, 1966. But he did not use a gun. Dennis ---
**Author:** ![chaika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chaika/32/405_2.png) [@chaika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaika)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2018, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-mass-shooting-you-remember/812779/23 "2018-04-20T15:38:15Z")
The shooting at an elementary school in Stockton, California, wasn’t the first mass shooting I can recall but it made a huge impression on me. The victims were young children, all of whom were refugees from Cambodia and Vietnam. Their families came to the US presumably in search of safety and security. And a madman murdered them on the school playground. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2018, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-mass-shooting-you-remember/812779/24 "2018-04-20T15:39:23Z")
I’d say the bell tower shooting in Texas is the first one I remember hearing about. ---
**Author:** ![cormac262](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@cormac262](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cormac262)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2018, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-mass-shooting-you-remember/812779/25 "2018-04-20T15:52:17Z")
San Ysidro McDonald’s. I had just graduated San Diego State in '81 (and left the area), but it’s like it had happened in my old “backyard”. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2018, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-mass-shooting-you-remember/812779/26 "2018-04-20T15:54:03Z")
Charles Whitman. ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2018, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-mass-shooting-you-remember/812779/27 "2018-04-20T16:02:24Z")
I think it was the Luby’s massacre in Killeen, TX but I’m not sure. I might remember that one only from later coverage since it was mentioned on the news for years each time a mass shooting was covered. It might be that I have simply forgotten earlier mass shootings because they have always been some of the background noise on TV news broadcasts, like weather or traffic jams. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2018, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-mass-shooting-you-remember/812779/28 "2018-04-20T16:47:00Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > University of Texas tower shooting in 1966. Charles Whitman killed 16 and injured 31. > > [University of Texas tower shooting - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Texas_tower_shooting?wprov=sfla1) Same for me. I was 14 at the time. It really horrified me. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2018, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-mass-shooting-you-remember/812779/29 "2018-04-20T16:47:44Z")
The 1972 Olympic murders: [Munich massacre - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_massacre) ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2018, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-mass-shooting-you-remember/812779/30 "2018-04-20T16:48:39Z")
The 1998 Jonesboro middle school shooting. I would have been 9. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2018, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-mass-shooting-you-remember/812779/31 "2018-04-20T17:19:46Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > University of Texas tower shooting in 1966. Charles Whitman killed 16 and injured 31. > > [University of Texas tower shooting - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Texas_tower_shooting?wprov=sfla1) Same here. ---
**Author:** ![BeeGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@BeeGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeeGee)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2018, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-mass-shooting-you-remember/812779/32 "2018-04-20T17:34:28Z")
> [@XT](#): > > I’d say the bell tower shooting in Texas is the first one I remember hearing about. nitpick: it’s a clocktower with a carillion, never referred to as a bell tower in these parts. That’s the first one I remember, too. I was only 5, but we were headed to Austin the next week on vacation and I remember being really scared to go up in the capitol dome. In my kindergarten mind, I had the capitol mixed up with the tower. Kent State I don’t remember hearing about AS it happened, but vividly remember the Time magazine coverage the next week. Munich, I remember watching on the news as it was happening. Between those things, the Apollo I fire, and the nightly news reports on Viet Nam, I was kind of scared of a lot of stuff back then. No one talked to us about it because they thought we were too young to understand or pay attention to the news. I snicker to myself when I hear people my age talk about the good old days. Dude. You obviously weren’t paying attention. ---
**Author:** ![Whiskey\_Dickens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9fc348/32.png) [@Whiskey\_Dickens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whiskey_Dickens)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2018, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-mass-shooting-you-remember/812779/33 "2018-04-20T18:05:52Z")
Columbine for me. I was at my grandmother’s house. I remember my mom getting pretty distraught. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2018, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-mass-shooting-you-remember/812779/34 "2018-04-20T18:14:22Z")
The McDonald’s shooting. I didn’t remember the exact location, I was going to say San Diego, not San Ysidro. Eh, close enough. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2018, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-mass-shooting-you-remember/812779/35 "2018-04-20T18:19:04Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > Okay, I was thinking of the Luby’s shooting that happened in 91. [Link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luby%27s_shooting) > [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](#): > > I think it was the Luby’s massacre in Killeen, TX but I’m not sure. I might remember that one only from later coverage since it was mentioned on the news for years each time a mass shooting was covered. It might be that I have simply forgotten earlier mass shootings because they have always been some of the background noise on TV news broadcasts, like weather or traffic jams. I was going to say Columbine, but I’d forgotten about this. I definitely recall seeing this all over the news and just not comprehending it as a teenager. Or as an adult, for that matter. ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2018, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-mass-shooting-you-remember/812779/36 "2018-04-20T19:28:40Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > Same one for me. Even though it was basically across the country, it was heavily covered and carried in our corner of north-east PA. I had relatives in San Antonio who went to Austin a fair bit so it really burned itself into my young brain. Me, too. I was nine years old and vising my grandmother in Wilkes Barre, PA when it happened. That’s NE PA for those who don’t know. I never heard that it was covered more there than anywhere else but, hey, I was nine. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2018, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-mass-shooting-you-remember/812779/37 "2018-04-20T21:24:04Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > University of Texas tower shooting in 1966. Charles Whitman killed 16 and injured 31. > > [University of Texas tower shooting - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Texas_tower_shooting?wprov=sfla1) This one for me too. I was not quite twelve when I heard about it. Didn’t they make a TV movie about it, with, I think, Kurt Russell as Whitman. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2018, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-mass-shooting-you-remember/812779/38 "2018-04-20T21:37:48Z")
Probably the Holiday Inn sniper in 1976. He was just denied parole last summer and won’t be eligible again [until 2027](http://www.kwch.com/content/news/Holiday-Inn-Sniper-up-for-parole-again-422812644.html). ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2018, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-mass-shooting-you-remember/812779/39 "2018-04-20T21:42:34Z")
Columbine. I was on a school trip to FIT to visit a national art college fair. I remember hearing about it on the bus. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Crap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.crap/32/3131_2.png) [@Dr.Crap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Crap)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2018, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-mass-shooting-you-remember/812779/40 "2018-04-20T21:51:10Z")
I vaguely remember Luby’s/Texas from the news. I vividly remember speaking to an officer at school after McDonalds/San Ysidro happened. He looked very grim, told me his fellow officers had no recourse on the scene and that “everything is going to change now”. He meant their equipment of course, but it was foreboding. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-mass-shooting-you-remember/812779.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-first-mass-shooting-you-remember/812779.md?page=3)