1979 San Antonio parade shooting

1979 San Antonio parade shooting
San Antonio is located in Texas
San Antonio
San Antonio
San Antonio (Texas)
Location29°26′37″N 98°28′35″W / 29.4435°N 98.4764°W / 29.4435; -98.4764
San Antonio, Texas, US
DateApril 27, 1979 (1979-04-27)
Attack type
Mass shooting, murder-suicide, shootout
Weapons
Deaths3 (including the perpetrator)
Injured55
PerpetratorIra Attebury

On April 27, 1979, 64-year-old Ira Attebury opened fire on spectators at the Battle of Flowers parade in San Antonio, Texas, United States. The attack killed two people and injured dozens of others, including six police officers. The shooting led to a siege lasting over an hour, which ended when Attebury committed suicide. A veteran of World War II, Attebury was under the influence of drugs during the shooting and reportedly believed he was being persecuted by the police.

On the 40th anniversary of the shooting, KSAT described it as the worst mass shooting in San Antonio history.[4]

Shooting

On April 27, 1979, Attebury parked his RV on the corner of Broadway and Grayson Street. The vehicle contained a cache of weapons and ammunition, including 14 firearms.[5] From within the RV, Attebury opened fire on the crowd as the Battle of Flowers Parade was beginning.[6][7]

One witness described Attebury as shooting "at anything that moved" for approximately 30 minutes while shouting,[8][9] "traitors, traitors, traitors!".[10] The incident escalated into a 90-minute standoff with police and a SWAT team,[6] during which Attebury was wounded by police gunfire. After his AR-15 rifle jammed, Attebury committed suicide with a revolver.[10][9][2][1]

Victims

In total, two people were killed in the shooting and 55 were injured;[4][11] six of the injured were police officers.[12] At least thirty of those hurt in the incident had been shot, while the others were injured while trying to escape.[9]

Perpetrator

Ira Attebury[a] (April 29, 1914 – April 27, 1979)[7] had grown up on a farm in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, one of nine children.[13][9] After service in the US Coast Guard during World War II, Attebury had been an independent trucker.[9][15] Eight years prior to the shooting, he had been involved in an accident that killed two people, and as a result had been disabled. He was not responsible for the crash, but according to his brothers began to believe he was being persecuted by the police in the aftermath.[11][16]

His brother described him as "highstrong" and "temperamental", fighting with their father and dropping out of high school in his youth.[9] He was receiving disability pension payments for an unrelated heart condition.[9][15] Attebury had lived in San Antonio for more than a year, having appeared at a local trailer park.[15] He was later kicked out of the trailer park due to his paranoid behavior.[9]

Attebury was high on PCP during the shooting, and his colleagues stated he would have hallucinations and thought he was being persecuted by law enforcement. He additionally complained about banks and what he perceived as unfair treatment from the Department of Veterans Affairs.[4][17] His landlord stated he was a "quiet loner" who would always pay in cash due to his fear of banks.[9] Attebury's neighbors expressed surprise after the shooting, not thinking his statements were serious.[16]

Aftermath

After the shooting, there were calls for improved police resources, and a surviving victim of the shooting sued to collect funds from Attebury's estate.[4] In 2016 a responding officer noted the police response as "unexpected, unplanned and unrehearsed".[8] On the 40th anniversary of the shooting, KSAT described it as the worst mass shooting in San Antonio history.[4] Following the shooting, Attebury was nicknamed by San Antonio residents as "the Fiesta sniper".[10]

In his 2012 book The Anatomy of Motive, writer and former FBI profiler John E. Douglas compared Attebury to Charles Whitman, classing both of them as representing the "paranoid assassin personality", and speculated that he had targeted a crowd due to his lack of a "cause" motivating the shooting, only his own rage. He also said that Attebury's lack of work combined with his paranoid personality resulted in the circumstances that led to the shooting.[9]

Attebury was buried in his hometown on May 1, 1979.[13][18]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Deihl, Kemper (April 29, 1979). "Texas Sniper Had Complained Police Were Persecuting Him". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on February 22, 2025. Retrieved November 1, 2025.
  2. 1 2 3 "TWO SLAIN, 31 HURT BY SNIPER IN TEXAS (Published 1979)". April 28, 1979. Retrieved October 31, 2025.
  3. ↑ Huddleston, Scott. "Troubled gunman unleashed violence on Fiesta parade 45 years ago". San Antonio Express-News. Archived from the original on July 26, 2025. Retrieved October 31, 2025.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Medina, Mariah (April 27, 2019). "Battle of Flowers parade marred by terror 40 years ago today". KSAT. San Antonio. Retrieved January 21, 2024.
  5. ↑ Guajardo, Adi; Leal, Mario; Floyd, Jackson (April 25, 2019). "Deadly Battle of Flowers parade shooting remembered 40 years later". KENS. Retrieved June 29, 2024.
  6. 1 2 Alexander, Bob (2018). Old Riot, New Ranger: Captain Jack Dean, Texas Ranger and U.S. Marshal. University of North Texas Press. ISBN 978-1-57441-740-1.
  7. 1 2 Bergen, Kathy (April 29, 1979). "Texas sniper feared someone after him". Rockford Register Star. p. 1. Retrieved April 25, 2026.
  8. 1 2 Petty, Kathleen (April 2016). "Fiesta". San Antonio Magazine. Vol. 11, no. 7. pp. 58–65. ISSN 2327-8315.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Douglas, John (2012). The Anatomy Of Motive. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4711-0837-2.
  10. 1 2 3 Huddleston, Scott (April 26, 2024). "Gunman brought chaos to San Antonio's Fiesta parade 45 years ago". San Antonio Express-News. Retrieved June 29, 2024.
  11. 1 2 Walker, Bill (April 29, 1979). "Kin say wreck affected sniper". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. p. 1E. Retrieved June 27, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ "Fallen officer's wife hit rushing to his aid". San Antonio Express-News. April 28, 1979. p. 75. Retrieved April 27, 2026.
  13. 1 2 3 Franscell, Ron (2010). The Crime Buff's Guide to Outlaw Texas. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 70–71. ISBN 978-0-7627-7493-7.
  14. ↑ "'Angel Dust' Is Found In Body of Texas Sniper". The New York Times. May 5, 1979. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 27, 2024.
  15. 1 2 3 Diehl, Kemper (April 29, 1979). "Texas Sniper Had Complained Police Were Persecuting Him". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved January 21, 2024.
  16. 1 2 Gilliam, Gwen; Chesser, Barbara (1991). Fatal Moments: The Tragedy of the Accidental Killer. Lexington Books. ISBN 978-0-669-21859-6.
  17. ↑ Gardwell, Cary (April 25, 1999). "Witnesses reflect on sniper attack during parade 20 years ago". The Monitor. McAllen, Texas. San Antonio Express-News. p. 6B. Retrieved June 27, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ↑ "Accused sniper buried in Poplar Bluff". The Kansas City Times. May 2, 1979. p. 2. Retrieved April 29, 2026.

Notes

  1. ↑ Sometimes spelled Attebery[13][14]
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