By Ana Gomez Salcido 
For Wendy Flanagan, July 18, 1984, was just another day at her job at the San Ysidro McDonald’s.
“I was at the register but then I went to the back to see if we were making ice because we ran out, and then it started,” said Flanagan at a press conference held this Monday, July 18, about for the Charlie Minn documentary “77 Minutes,” which narrates the events of that day in San Ysidro.
Shortly after, James Huberty, a 41-year-old man, opened fire and shot and killed 21 people and injured 19 others at her workplace.
“I heard a single gunshot but I didn’t know what it was. I thought at first it was a firecracker that somebody had popped as a prank because it was right after the 4th of July, so I assumed it was that. I didn’t know until he started shooting a lot that it was not a fire cracker.”
Flanagan, who was 17 years old at the time of the massacre, tried to escape the scene through an emergency exit, which was locked. Flannigan hid in a utility closet until the shooting stopped.
It took 77 minutes for the shooter, who was fatally shot by a SWAT team sniper, to be taken down. The film’s title is a reference to this.
“This films honors the victims. [The shooting] is a very important part of San Diego’s history, victims should be recognized,” said Charlie Minn, who has also produced other documentaries about border issues. “We all have to be more aware of these crimes and how bad they are so maybe that can change things, by people seeing the actual crime scene.”
The shooting ranked as the deadliest mass shooting committed in the United States until the 1991 Luby’s shooting. It is the second deadliest shooting rampage in which police killed the perpetrator as opposed to committing suicide, behind only the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting.
“We have to acknowledge it so we can be better prepared for the future so they can learn to do things differently, and quicker,” said Flanagan about the film’s goal of creating social awareness.
Flanagan also mentioned that when other mass shooting happen, she relives the San Ysidro massacre all over again.
“I relive it every time,” said Flanagan. “My friend who was hiding with me in the closet had a Mother Mary of Guadalupe necklace and we prayed the whole time.”
Flanagan’s story, and the stories of other survivors, will be featured in “77 Minutes”, which will be premiered at Mission Valley Hazard Center in San Diego for week run starting on Friday, September 23, 2016.
