Cook's Corner: What Happens to the Real Estate in the Wake of a Mass Shooting?
Cook's Corner is an iconic Orange County institution in Trabuco Canyon, California, named for a farmer and Civil War veteran named Andrew Jackson Cook, who acquired land and built a building on the site in 1884, converted to a restaurant in 1926 and a bar following the end of Prohibition. Over the years, Cook's Corner has become a popular restaurant, bar and venue for live music, frequented by both motorcycle enthusiasts and local residents. On August 23, 2023, a retired police officer entered and shot his ex-wife and nine others, including two members of the band that was performing at the time; the shooter was shot and killed trying to flee the scene. In all, three were killed (not including the shooter), and six others were injured.
There was speculation as to what would happen to Cook's Corner in the aftermath of the shooting, as the business faced a decision faced by many others in an era when mass shootings have become tragically common – do they reopen? Nine days later, on September 1, Cook's Corner did reopen, including a display with photographs of the three victims surrounded by white roses.
The focus in mass shootings is appropriately on the victims, and secondarily on the shooter and the investigation that follows. Another interesting question, however, is what becomes of the property where the shooting occurred? Below is a brief recap of the ten deadliest mass shootings in modern American history, along with a few others of interest, and what became of the property where the shootings occurred.
Before exploring the history of these properties, however, it is important to note that there is no universally-accepted definition of what constitutes a mass shooting, other than a generic firearm attack that indiscriminately kills or injures multiple individuals, excluding warfare, gang violence, or other violence committed as a means to end such as robbery or terrorism. Where definitions of mass shooting specify a certain number of victims, 3-5 victims killed or wounded are typical numbers often used, excluding the perpetrator. A database from Mother Jones identifies a total of 147 mass shootings in the United States since 1982, including ten to date in 2023 (Mother Jones defines mass shooting as killing three or more individuals exclusive of the perpetrator).
In order of numbers killed, here are the top ten mass shootings in the United States, and what ultimately happened to the property where the shooting occurred.
1 – Route 91 Harvest Music Festival, Las Vegas NV
October 2017; 60 killed, 850+ injured
The deadliest mass shooting in American history was perpetrated by a lone gunman firing across the street from a 32nd floor suite at the Mandalay Bay hotel. The site where the shooting occurred was a 15-acre parcel across the street known as Las Vegas Village that was mostly used as an outdoor performance venue. MGM Resorts has since converted the property to a parking lot for events at Allegiant Stadium (home of the Las Vegas Raiders and UNLV Rebels) across the I-15 Freeway. An official memorial to be constructed on the site is still in the planning stages.
2 – Pulse Nightclub, Orlando FL
June 2016; 49 killed, 53 injured
This shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub is characterized as a mass shooting, even though the perpetrator was identified as an Islamic terrorist. A few months after the shooting, the City of Orlando announced plans to purchase the property and turn the site into a memorial, but the owner ultimately decided not to sell. In June 2021, Congress designated the site a national memorial. The Pulse owner established a non-profit to raise money for a memorial and museum on the site, but the non-profit was unable to reach agreement for donation of the property, with plans to construct the museum on another nearby site that was acquired for that purpose. Aerial imagery indicates that the improvements, which have been unused since the tragedy, are still there, surrounded by a commemorative fence.
3 – Virginia Tech, Blacksburg VA
April 2007; 32 killed, 17 injured
A mentally-ill undergraduate student initially killed two people in a dormitory, although the main attack happened at a classroom building known as Norris Hall. After deliberating about the fate of Norris Hall, Virginia Tech elected not to demolish the building, instead renovating it at a cost of $800,000; the new Norris Hall is reconfigured with a teleconference room, labs and study space, and a distinctly different modern décor. While a memorial to the victims was erected elsewhere on campus, administrators opted for Norris Hall to continue as a "normal, functioning building."
4 – Sandy Hook Elementary School, Newtown CT
December 2012; 26 killed
Adam Lanza shot and killed his mother at their Newtown home, before taking her car to the elementary school, shooting and killing 20 children aged 6-7 in two classrooms, along with six adult staff members. Only weeks after the shooting, Newtown officials convened an open meeting to deliberate the fate of the school building. The town ultimately demolished not only the school, but also the dwelling where Lanza and his mother had lived. The school was later rebuilt in a different place on the site, leaving a small area vacant where the two classrooms once stood. Not only was the original school building razed, but every piece of rubble from the demolition was removed to an undisclosed location and destroyed, with no memorial on the site to commemorate the tragic 2012 event. Sandy Hook was the first public school to be demolished in the wake of a mass shooting.
5 – First Baptist Church, Sutherland Springs TX
November 2017; 26 killed, 22 injured
The coldly methodical shooting occurred during a Sunday morning church service, the dead also including an unborn child. In 2021, church members voted to demolish the sanctuary, which had been preserved as a memorial since the shooting, replacing it with an outdoor memorial. The congregation has worshipped in a new facility since 2019.
6 – Luby's Cafeteria, Killeen TX
October 1991; 23 killed, 27 injured
A gunman drove his truck through the glass storefront before shooting nearly a third of the patrons in the restaurant at the time. Luby's was a popular restaurant chain in the Lone Star State, spending $350,000 to remodel the cafeteria-style restaurant before reopening five months after the shooting. The Killeen location closed in 2000, and was subsequently occupied by a Chinese buffet that continues to operate there (2-1/2 stars on Yelp for anyone who is interested in sampling the cuisine). After losses sustained during the pandemic, Luby's corporate entity sold its existing cafeteria restaurants and the Fuddruckers brand in 2021.
7 – Walmart, El Paso TX
August 2019; 23 killed, 22 injured
The perpetrator was a white nationalist, who fired on mostly Hispanic shoppers both inside the Walmart Supercenter and in the parking lot outside. The store reopened three months later after renovations, with a memorial subsequently installed in the parking lot.
8 – McDonald's, San Ysidro, CA
July 1984; 21 killed, 19 injured
The deadliest mass shooting at the time, subsequently eclipsed by the Luby's shooting in 1991. Two days after the massacre, the restaurant had been renovated for anticipated reopening, but within a week it was decided by McDonald's executives and community leaders that the restaurant would not reopen. Two months later, the building was demolished in the middle of the night. McDonald's subsequently donated the site to the city with a stipulation that no restaurant be constructed there. It was sold to Southwestern College for $136,000 in 1988 for construction of a satellite campus, including a permanent memorial; McDonald's later built a new facility two blocks away.
9 – Robb Elementary School, Uvalde TX
May 2022; 21 killed, 17 injured
With some similarities to the Sandy Hook shooting, the 18-year old gunman was a former student who shot his grandmother and drove her car to the elementary school, fatally shooting 19 students and two teachers in adjoining classrooms. Law enforcement was heavily criticized for taking over an hour to respond to the situation. Roughly a year later, despite its historical significance to the community, a decision was reached to demolish the school and rebuild a new one elsewhere in Uvalde using funds from a local foundation established for that purpose.
10 – Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School, Parkland FL
February 2018; 17 killed, 17 injured
The shooter was a former student who entered Building 12, a 3-story classroom structure, killing 14 students and three faculty members. Like the later mass shooting at Robb Elementary, law enforcement was criticized for a delayed response. Students returned two weeks after the massacre. While a replacement was constructed elsewhere on campus, Building 12 was preserved as a crime scene and not immediately torn down pending completion of legal proceedings against the gunman and school resource officer; it was announced in July 2023 that Building 12 will ultimately be demolished. A memorial garden was installed on the 1-year anniversary of the tragedy, which also gave rise to March for Our Lives, an organized group of student activists supporting gun control legislation.
Columbine High School in Colorado, the site of a mass shooting that killed 12 students and one teacher in 1999, closed for four months for renovations following the shooting before reopening at the start of the following school year. While the school was not torn down, the library where most of the carnage occurred was demolished and rebuilt, with a memorial park outside the school.
Two other local mass shootings and what happened to the property are noted below.
Salon Meritage, Seal Beach CA, October 2011; 8 killed, one injured
The worst mass shooting in Orange County. The gunman targeted his ex-wife at the hair salon, which had about 20 people inside at the time. The salon, which is part of a multi-tenant commercial center, reopened slightly over a year later after a dramatic transformation, including a completely different floor plan. A memorial was erected in a public park near the city's pier.
Star Ballroom Dance Studio, Monterey Park CA, January 2023; 11 killed, 9 injured
The worst mass shooting in Los Angeles County. The dance studio had been a fixture in the community for three decades, and was hosting a Lunar New Year's Eve party at the time. After killing 11 elderly dancers, the gunman drove to a ballroom in nearby Alhambra, but was disarmed before shooting anyone else. The owner indicates that the dance studio is unlikely to reopen.
Decisions about what to do with property affected by a mass shooting are difficult. Demolishing a building can't erase the memory of what happened, and funding replacement structures is often prohibitively expensive. The few examples above show the range of responses to these tragedies, which are guided by emotions and the circumstances of each case. Mass shootings have sadly become commonplace, and the only certainty is that they will continue until gun control is addressed in a meaningful way.
