George Hennard

"This is what Bell County's done to me!"

George Pierre Hennard is a mass murderer who killed 23 people and wounded dozens of others in a deadly massacre at Luby's Cafeteria.

Background
Born in Sayre, Pennsylvania, Hennard's father Georges was an expert in orthopedics, and as a result, the family constantly moved around the country since he worked at various Army hospitals. Hennard's parents allegedly didn't care about him, and he was quiet and antisocial throughout high school. After graduating high school in 1974, Hennard joined the Navy, where he experienced many troubles, among them an arrest for marijuana possession and a suspension after having a racial argument with a shipmate. He soon went to a substance-abuse program in Houston after being suspended again for marijuana possession aboard a cargo ship, and then drifted from job to job, having numerous jobs in different U.S. states. Hennard eventually became particularly prejudiced against women, once sending two sisters living a couple of blocks away from him a five-page letter voicing his hatred for them. A week-and-a-half prior to the massacre at Luby's Cafeteria, Hennard resigned from his current job at a cement company at Copperas Cove.

According to TruTv, Hennard had watched a documentary about James Huberty, a disgruntled man who committed a massacre at a San Ysidro, California McDonald's restaurant on July 18, 1984, killing 21 people. He also watched a 1991 movie in which a DJ killed several people at a restaurant in a shooting. The two movies apparently inspired him to commit the Luby's massacre.

The Massacre
After eating breakfast at a convenience store he commonly visited, Hennard then drove to a Luby's Cafeteria 17 miles away and intentionally crashed his pickup truck into the cafeteria, hitting an elderly man in the process. People gathered around the truck, believing the crash to be an accident, and Hennard seized the opportunity to shoot at those nearest with two pistols he legally purchased. He stepped out of his truck and yelled, "This is what Bell County has done to me!" He then proceeded to continuously shoot at people hiding under the tables at point-blank range, injuring and/or killing them. Several witnesses have reported seeing Hennard bitterly spit out misogynistic statements at some of his female victims before shooting them; they also reported he was smirking the entire time. It would later be revealed that most of Hennard's chosen victims were females.

After several minutes of shooting and killing, Hennard halted his rampage for an unknown reason and instead began walking around the restaurant. 28-year-old mechanic Tommy Vaughan seized this opportunity to hurl himself through a glass window, shattering it completely and allowing about a third of everyone still alive to escape, just as two police officers arrived, responding to the scene. Hennard angrily engaged in a shootout with the officers and resultantly suffered from four gunshot wounds. Taking cover in the cafeteria's restrooms, with only one bullet left, Hennard then committed suicide, ending his fifteen minute-long rampage.

Modus Operandi
Hennard attracted a crowd by crashing 1987 Ford Ranger pickup truck into the cafeteria, to which he would then start shooting with two semiautomatic pistols, one a Ruger P89, the other a Glock 17. Most of his victims were shot at point-blank range. He would choose which people he would kill before shooting them; most of those chosen by him were women due to his misogynistic personality.

Known Victims
All of the following were killed in the 1991 Luby's Cafeteria massacre.

Fatalities

 * 23 people killed

Injuries

 * 27 people injured

On Criminal Minds
Hennard was mentioned in the Season Five episode Public Enemy.