University of Texas Tower Shooting: 60 years later
UT Austin Tower Shooting: 60 Years Later
The University of Texas tower shooting, one of the worst campus shootings in American history, happened 60 years ago on Aug. 1, 1966.
AUSTIN, Texas - The University of Texas tower shooting, one of the worst campus shootings in American history, happened 60 years ago on Aug. 1, 1966.
On that day, 25-year-old engineering student and former marine Charles Whitman took an elevator to the top of the University of Texas Tower and killed 16 people including an unborn child, and injured 31 others in the span of 96 minutes.
One victim originally injured in the massacre died from complications related to his injuries in 2001, considered the 17th death of the shooting. Whitman had already killed his wife and mother earlier that morning before he made his way to the UT Campus.
A special report aired by KTBC that day shows students ducking behind vehicles, running from gunfire, and even some brave individuals running into the gunfire to save those who were wounded and lying in the open.
The backstory:
According to the Texas State Historical Association, Whitman arrived on campus around 11:30 a.m. dressed in overalls to disguise himself as a janitor, he had a footlocker with an array of guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. Upon arriving on the 28th floor, Whitman killed a university employee working in the reception area. Minutes later, Whitman used a modified shotgun to gun down a family of tourists in the stairwell. Two of the family members died and two were severely wounded.
Whitman would begin shooting from the observation deck around 11:48 a.m. The gunfire from the tower would last 96 minutes. The massacre came to an end when APD officers Ray Martinez and Houston McCoy, assisted by other officers and a civilian, reached the observation deck and killed Charles Whitman.
According to the Austin History Center, a malignant tumor was found in Whitman's brain after his death. It could not be determined whether this was a cause for his violent behavior.
In 2016 a memorial was placed in the Tower Garden to stand as a tribute to those that lost their lives that day, including the shooter's wife and mother.
You can watch other stories and interviews concerning the UT Tower Shooting here.
The Source: Information in this article comes from the Texas State History Association and previous FOX Local reporting.