The UT Shooter 1966

[bersaguy]

I was curious because I thought I have read something interesting about this back years ago so went back to read it again. I was right about what I read. Lets see how many of ya'll can find the one sentence I am talking about after you read the article.

 

 

On August 1, 1966, Charles Whitman climbed to the top of the University of Texas Tower with three rifles, two pistols, and a sawed-off shotgun. The 25-year-old architectural engineering major and ex-Marine—who had previously complained of searing headaches and depression—had already murdered his mother, Margaret, and his wife, Kathy, earlier that morning. He fired his first shots just before noon, aiming with chilling precision at pedestrians below. “The crime scene spanned the length of five city blocks . . . and covered the nerve center of what was then a relatively small, quiet college town,” noted executive editor Pamela Colloff in her 2006 oral history of the shootings. “Hundreds of students, professors, tourists, and store clerks witnessed the 96-minute killing spree as they crouched behind trees, hid under desks, took cover in stairwells, or, if they had been hit, played dead.”

At the time, there was no precedent for such a tragedy. Whitman “introduced the nation to the idea of mass murder in a public space,” wrote Colloff. By the time he was gunned down by an Austin police officer early that afternoon, he had shot 43 people, thirteen of whom died.

The shootings garnered international attention. “The cover of Life the next week made a big impression on all of us,” UT alumnus Shelton Williams told Texas Monthly in 2006. “The photo, which was taken from the victim’s point of view, was of the Tower, as seen through a window with two gaping bullet holes in it. From that vantage point it looked menacing, even evil—not the triumphant symbol of football victories we were used to.”

At year’s end, the Associated Press and United Press International ranked the shootings as the second most important story of 1966, behind only the war in Vietnam. The massacre would spur the creation of SWAT teams across the country. Because such tactical teams did not exist at the time of Whitman’s crime, many students had risked their own lives to fire back at the unseen sniper, or to help wounded strangers to safety.

The incident was arguably the most painful in UT’s history and the university tried for years, unsuccessfully, to erase its memory. That changed in 1999—33 years after the murders—when president Larry Faulkner agreed to allow a place of reflection to be created behind the Tower, dedicated to Whitman’s victims, and a memorial service to be held

[Oh Shoot]

....By the time he was gunned down by an Austin police officer early that afternoon, he had shot 43 people, thirteen of whom died.

 

Fact that final tally was actually 48 shot and 16 dead? Or what?

 

- OS

[bersaguy]

Fact that final tally was actually 48 shot and 16 dead? Or what?

 

- OS

 

Nope not it!!!!   Infact it was something in one of your other posts that caused me to go back and look again..........

Edited April 29, 2014 by bersaguy

[Oh Shoot]

Nope not it!!!!   Infact it was something in one of your other posts that caused me to go back and look again..........

 

Can't imagine, eagerly awaiting the revelation. ;)

 

- OS

[TrickyNicky]

"At the time, there was no precedent for such a tragedy. Whitman “introduced the nation to the idea of mass murder in a public space..."

That it? Can't go digging, but this seems wrong somehow too.

[bersaguy]

Gosh I thought sure OS or nicky would get this.  I guess I will point it out.

 

 

Because such tactical teams did not exist at the time of Whitman’s crime, many students had risked their own lives to fire back at the unseen sniper, or to help wounded strangers to safety.   

 

 

Students were shooting back which would indicate that UT was not a Gun Free Zone at the time of the Mass Shooting!!!!!!!

Edited April 30, 2014 by bersaguy

[TrickyNicky]

Gosh I thought sure OS or nicky would get this.  I guess I will point it out.
 
 
Because such tactical teams did not exist at the time of Whitman’s crime, many students had risked their own lives to fire back at the unseen sniper, or to help wounded strangers to safety.   
 
 
Students were shooting back which would indicate that UT was not a Gun Free Zone at the time of the Mass Shooting!!!!!!!

Or that Texans really do posses above average common sense. Or did in 66 anyway.

I'm sure you're right though about the postings. Doubt there were too many laws relating to Texans carrying back then, could be wrong though. What was TN like during that period?

[vontar]

http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/16/us/20-deadliest-mass-shootings-in-u-s-history-fast-facts/

(CNN) -- Here is a list of the 25 deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history from 1965 to the present.

 

18 killed - August 1, 1966 - University of Texas. Charles Joseph Whitman, a former U.S. Marine, kills 16 and wounds at least 30 from a university tower.

 

I get the feeling, different sources are going to have different number.

[bersaguy]

Or that Texans really do posses above average common sense. Or did in 66 anyway.

I'm sure you're right though about the postings. Doubt there were too many laws relating to Texans carrying back then, could be wrong though. What was TN like during that period?

I have no clue about Tennessee except everyday I drove to school I had a shotgun and a rifle hung in gun rack in back window of pick up truck so I could go hunting after school. What made me think about that article as I read it back years ago and then OS made the post that if that shooting at Fedex today might be the first mass shoot in a non gun free zone and I remembeed reading that story from 1966.

[Dolomite_supafly]

http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/16/us/20-deadliest-mass-shootings-in-u-s-history-fast-facts/

(CNN) -- Here is a list of the 25 deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history from 1965 to the present.

 

18 killed - August 1, 1966 - University of Texas. Charles Joseph Whitman, a former U.S. Marine, kills 16 and wounds at least 30 from a university tower.

 

I get the feeling, different sources are going to have different number.

 

Considering they have conflicting numbers in a single sentence I would say so.

 

18 killed then towards the end of the sentence they say 16.

[Sam1]

We stopped by the tower last year and surprised he didn't whack a lot more people than he did... it's like a big fish bowl out there in front of it, only a couple of exits and that tower has a great view of all of them.

[GlockSpock]

Perhaps the conflicting number is that his mother and his wife make 18 but he only killed 16 from the tower? 18 total in the tragedy? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Edited April 30, 2014 by CZ9MM

[Oh Shoot]

We stopped by the tower last year and surprised he didn't whack a lot more people than he did... it's like a big fish bowl out there in front of it, only a couple of exits and that tower has a great view of all of them.

 

Ain't so easy to hit  targets from distance, and especially moving one, and double especially right where you are trying to. That's why 32 who were hit lived.

 

- OS

[bersaguy]

Ain't so easy to hit  targets from distance, and especially moving one, and double especially right where you are trying to. That's why 32 who were hit lived.

 

- OS

Very true O S  considering the rifles he was using. He only really have one that would have been effectively accurate and the other two would most likely have been considered a lucky hit...The Remington 700 with the scope would have been the only real gun for that long of the shots he was making. The Remington Pump Rifle they said was a 35 caliber didn't have a scope and the other rifle was a 30 caliber Carbine would have really been a reach from the tower. Taking all of that into consideration and the fact that he shot 215 out of possible 300 in the marine corps doesn't make him exactly a top shot candidate so I would say his shots after the first few were mostly luck more than skill...........jmho

[ironsniper1]

i find it scary he has the same last name as my grandparents! :mellow:

[bigun]

Students really had guns on school grounds and fired back, OH NO!!!!!!

[1gewehr]

It was mostly Austin residents who heard or saw the shooting and responded with their own weapons.  There were many acts of bravery that day by citizens who risked their lives to get those who were shot to safety.  Whitman used the wounded in his sight as bait to draw others out to shoot at.