The Airstrip Ambush and 900 Deaths: What Happened at Jonestown
Peoples Temple gunmen killed Congressman Leo Ryan and four others at a Guyana airstrip before more than 900 people died at Jonestown on November 18, 1978.
- Period
- 1978
- Location
- Jonestown and Port Kaituma, Guyana
- Case status
- Larry Layton convicted in the United States; Jim Jones died at Jonestown
Peoples Temple moved from California to Guyana
Jim Jones built Peoples Temple through churches and political relationships in California before moving hundreds of followers to an agricultural settlement in Guyana. Members described Jonestown as a refuge from racism and inequality, but defectors and relatives reported punishment, armed control, restricted communication and rehearsals for collective death. By 1978, concern had reached elected officials. California congressman Leo Ryan decided to visit with staff, journalists and relatives. The delegation arrived in Guyana in November and travelled to the isolated settlement to examine conditions directly.
Residents asked to leave with the delegation
During the visit, several residents passed messages or told members of Ryan’s group that they wanted to leave. Public entertainment and assurances from Jones contrasted with private accounts of fear. Ryan initially said many people appeared content, but the requests for departure changed the mission. A resident attacked him with a knife as the delegation prepared to leave Jonestown. Ryan was not seriously injured. The group then travelled to the Port Kaituma airstrip with defectors, while Jones’s organization arranged vehicles and armed followers behind them.
Gunmen attacked two aircraft at Port Kaituma
As the group waited to board two aircraft on November 18, a tractor and trailer arrived from Jonestown. Armed men opened fire on the larger plane and people around it. Ryan, NBC correspondent Don Harris, cameraman Bob Brown, photographer Greg Robinson and Temple defector Patricia Parks were killed. Others were wounded. A Peoples Temple member, Larry Layton, had joined the departing group and opened fire inside the smaller aircraft. Survivors escaped into nearby cover as the attackers withdrew. Brown’s camera recorded part of the assault before he was killed.
Mass death followed at the settlement
Back at Jonestown, Jones called residents to the central pavilion. A recording and survivor accounts document pressure to consume a cyanide-laced drink. Children were poisoned first, and adults followed under the watch of armed guards. More than 900 people died, including over 200 children. Some adults may have acted under coercion, and children could not consent; describing the entire event simply as mass suicide obscures the control, threats and murder involved. Jones was found dead from a gunshot wound. A small number of residents survived by hiding, escaping or being elsewhere.
The FBI opened the RYMUR investigation
The murder of a member of Congress gave the FBI jurisdiction under a federal assassination statute. Agents worked with Guyanese authorities, interviewed survivors, processed recordings and documents, and helped identify the dead. The investigation was named RYMUR, for Ryan Murder. The scale of the remains and the tropical environment made recovery and identification exceptionally difficult. Material seized from Jonestown and Peoples Temple offices produced one of the largest documentary records of a coercive organization, including audio tapes, internal notes, financial files and communications.
Larry Layton was convicted after extradition
Layton was initially tried in Guyana and later extradited to the United States. A federal jury convicted him of conspiracy and aiding and abetting the murder of Ryan and the attempted murder of a diplomat. He received a life sentence and was later paroled. No trial could encompass every death at Jonestown because Jones and many senior followers were dead. The record instead rests on the Ryan prosecution, survivor testimony, forensic work and extensive archives. Remembering the case requires separating Jones’s rhetoric from the experiences of people who were isolated, controlled and killed.
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