Killing of Meredith Hunter

On December 6, 1969, Meredith Curly Hunter Jr., an 18-year-old Black man, was stabbed to death at the Altamont Free Concert in California, the closing event of the Rolling Stones' 1969 US tour. The concert, jointly organized by the Rolling Stones and the Grateful Dead, drew between 250,000 and 300,000 attendees and featured performances by Jefferson Airplane, Santana, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and the Flying Burrito Brothers. The Hells Angels motorcycle club had been engaged to provide security at the suggestion of the Grateful Dead, who had previously used the group at their own shows.

Widespread violence broke out during the event. The Hells Angels struck audience members with fists and sawed-off pool cues, injuring several people, including stage manager Chip Monck and Jefferson Airplane singer Marty Balin, who was knocked unconscious. Much of the crowd had consumed alcohol from a batch of low-cost Red Mountain wine that had been laced with LSD, contributing to erratic behavior throughout the day. The Grateful Dead declined to perform after witnessing the violence.

Hunter attended the concert with his girlfriend, Patty Bredehoft, and had taken amphetamines and methamphetamines earlier in the day. He carried a .22-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver, which his sister had encouraged him to bring given concerns about racial hostility in the area. After being pulled off a speaker box and punched by a Hells Angel, Hunter ran into the crowd, briefly drew the revolver, and then turned away, at which point Alan Passaro, a Hells Angels member, jumped on his back and stabbed him multiple times. Other bikers then kicked and struck him as he lay on the ground. Hunter died before an ambulance arrived. An autopsy documented sixteen stab wounds.

The stabbing was captured on film by Albert and David Maysles, whose footage assisted police in identifying Passaro from his jacket patches. Passaro was arrested for murder in March 1970 while already incarcerated on unrelated charges. At trial, his attorney argued that Hunter had drawn his gun first and that Passaro acted in self-defense; witnesses gave conflicting identifications of the assailant. In January 1971, a jury found Passaro not guilty.

The events were documented in the Maysles brothers' 1970 film Gimme Shelter and referenced in the Grateful Dead's song "New Speedway Boogie" and Don McLean's "American Pie." In 2003, the Alameda County Sheriff's Office reopened an investigation into whether a second Hells Angel had been involved in the stabbing; the case was closed in 2005 after investigators found insufficient evidence to support that theory and reaffirmed that Passaro had acted alone. Passaro was later found drowned in 1985 in circumstances that at least one writer has suggested may have involved foul play, though this has not been established.