SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — Wendy Flanagan, a new employee at the San Ysidro McDonald’s, found herself amid of a horrifying incident when James Huberty, a gunman, opened fire on both the customers and the staff.
Flanagan was at a register taking orders but left for a few minutes to get ice in the back of the restaurant.
She heard the gunfire and then felt one of her co-workers and friend, Margarita Padilla, grab her, escorting her to a basement utility room to escape shots being fired by Huberty.
While Flanagan managed to get to safety, the tragic loss of her co-worker and friend, Margarita Padilla, is a stark reminder of the human cost of such incidents.
According to the San Diego Police Department, Huberty’s shooting spree, which lasted a harrowing 77 minutes, was a prolonged ordeal for all those involved.
He shot 40 people killing 21, the youngest was an eight-month baby who was shot in the back.
When officers found them, Flanagan and others, who remained hidden in the basement during the ordeal, were escorted to the parking lot.
On the way out, Flanagan says she saw things she’ll never forget, stuff that haunts her to this day.
“Scars remain; it never goes away; there’s always a scar in your memory, inside you; it may not be a physical wound,” said Flanagan. “It’s an emotional wound; you learn to deal with and grow from it. It’s taken me a long time, but here I am.”
Flanagan admits she’s gone through a lot of counseling in the last 40 years.
“I’ve had counseling of every kind since then,” she said. “I’ve had group counseling, one-on-one counseling, social workers, psychiatrists, medication, phycologists and therapists, you name it.”
The counseling has helped Flanagan, but she’ll tell you there are things such as fireworks and other loud bangs that still take her back to that “horrible day.”
“The sound reminds me of what all the other people went through, those who were shot and all the victims that I saw, not so much me, but knowing the pain that was endured because of all that.”
The old McDonald’s restaurant was torn down a few months after the incident.
A Southwestern Community College satellite campus was built on the property years later.
“I went to college there, but I hated it,” said Flanagan, referring to the immediate area, not the school itself.
According to Flanagan she avoids the site altogether.
“I’ll walk into a McDonald’s first,” she said. “Whenever I go to San Ysidro, I don’t go on that stretch of the street, I’ll get on the freeway and go around.”
Flanagan lives in South San Diego and says she is happy for the most part.
On Thursday, the day of the 40th anniversary, an event is planned at the site to remember the victims and survivors like Flanagan who still carry the pain and stress from that day.