|
The shooting
The South Mall as seen
from the University of Texas Tower was only one of the areas where
Charles Whitman's 45 shooting victims fell, as he constantly changed
positions on the observation deck.
(Austin Police Department Files)
Friends of Whitman
recalled him marveling at the advantage a gunman would have shooting
from the observation deck of the Texas Tower. He told a UT
psychiatrist he was angry enough to do it. On his third visit to the
Tower, Whitman came armed with four rifles and three handguns.
(Austin Police Department Files)
Smoke rises from a sniper's gun as he fires from the tower of
the University of Texas administration building on crowds below
in this August 1, 1966, file photo. Until the carnage at
Virginia Tech Monday, April 16, 2007, the 1966 sniping rampage
by Charles Whitman from the Austin school's landmark 307-foot
tower had remained the deadliest campus shooting in U.S. history.
(AP Photo)
A victim of sniper Charles Whitman is placed into a waiting
ambulance during the shooting spree at the University of Texas
in Austin, Aug. 2, 1966. Until the carnage at Virginia Tech
Monday, April 16, 2007, the Aug. 1, 1966, the sniper rampage by
Charles Whitman from the Austin school's landmark 307-foot tower
had remained the deadliest campus shooting in U.S. history. (AP
Photo).
On his third visit to
the University of Texas Tower, Charles Whitman came armed with three
rifles, a shotgun and three handguns. He used a bolt-action
Remington with a scope in the early minutes of the shooting, when he
had the luxury of aiming, and an M-1 for rapid firing in a gunfight
with those below. Whitman had sawed off the barrel and butt of a 12-gauge
shotgun for the close-quarter fighting.
(Austin Police Department Files)
This Smith and Wesson
.357-caliber magnum, one of the many guns Whitman brought with him
to the Texas Tower, was found near Whitman's body on the observation
deck after Austin Police officers shot and killed him.
(Austin Police Department Files)
Visitors to the Tower,
which had been closed to the public for many years after the Whitman
shootings, can still see the bullet scars from gunmen on the ground
trying to keep Whitman pinned down.
(Austin Police Department Files)
Bullets pock marked
the detailing on the Texas Tower. The shooting was so unlike
anything that had happened before in Austin, police officers allowed
citizens with their own rifles to assist them in the gunfight.
(Austin Police Department Files)
Whitman's body.
Police carry away Whitman's body.
Whitman's body.
Whitman's body.
|
