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Massacre site torn down

SAN DIEGO -- Wrecking crews with bulldozers today began knocking down the McDonald's restaurant building where 21 people were killed July 18 in the worst one-day massacre by a single gunman in U.S. history.

McDonald's has deeded the land beneath the restaurant to the City of San Diego, stipulating that the company name not be associated with future use. The firm also specified that the site in San Ysidro must never be utilized for a restaurant again.

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Sentiment in San Ysidro, San Diego's suburb on the Mexican border where most of the residents are of Mexican descent, is for creation of a memorial park on the site to honor the victims. This is in keeping with the Mexican folk tradition that the place where a person dies is sacred and should be memorialized.

The San Diego City Council has not yet decided how to use the site.

James Oliver Huberty, 41, an unemployed security guard, walked into the restaurant a half-block from his home, ordered everyone inside on the floor and began firing successively with three weapons, including an Uzi semiautomatic rifle.

Huberty had said 'society had its chance' after he was put off when he called a community mental health clinic for help the previous day.

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He had been in the restaurant 77 minutes before a police sniper shot him dead with a single shot from atop the post office next door.

In addition to killing 21 persons, Huberty wounded 19 others.

Demolition of the restaurant was ordered by the franchisee, Bob Colvin, who said he plans to open another McDonald's outlet elsewhere in San Ysidro.

'It's best to tear it down,' Colvin told the San Ysidro Chamber of Commerce Tuesday. 'Already people are trying to get souvenirs off it.'

The demolition crews went to work at first light Wednesday.

The golden arches had been taken down last month, all McDonald's logotypes removed, the playground stripped and the building left a gutted shell.

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