The Jonestown Massacre occurred on November 18, 1978, after Peoples Temple leader Jim Jones ordered the assassination of U.S. Rep. Leo Ryan and others who were preparing to leave Guyana from a nearby airstrip. Jones then activated a suicide plan for followers of the movement and commanded them to drink cyanide-adulterated punch. Some people were injected or poisoned involuntarily. Jones died from a gunshot wound to the head, and the death toll from the mass murder-suicide event was ultimately placed at 918. The event shocked the public and media outlets and became infamous. The group was portrayed as a doomsday cult that ended with a mass murder-suicide.
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