1960's Texas University Shooting

[bill larry]

This information is from the crimelibrary.com, a Court TV database of mass killings, yada yada yada...

Whitman used:

In his old Marine footlocker Charlie packed an array of supplies. He brought a radio, 3 gallons of water, gasoline, a notebook and pen, a compass, a hatchet and hammer, food, two knives, a flashlight and batteries, and various other implements which made it clear he was prepared for a lengthy standoff. Additionally, he packed guns—a 35 caliber Remington rifle, a 6mm Remington rifle with a scope, a 357 Magnum Smith & Wesson revolver, a 9mm Luger pistol, and a Galesi-Brescia pistol. Later that morning he would buy two more weapons, a 30 caliber M-1 carbine and a 12-gauge shotgun

On Whitman's long shots:

Over 500 yards to the South, city electricians Solon McCown and Roy Dell Schmidt parked their truck and joined a group of reporters and spectators. They huddled behind cars for safety. Schmidt, probably thinking that they were out of range, stood up. He was hit in the abdomen, and was dead ten minutes later.

 

[SWModel19]

See A Sniper in the Tower by Gary M. Lavergne. It is an incredibly well documented history of the Whitman shootings.

Art, you might be thinking of the other officer who shot Whitman, Houston McCoy. IIRC, in this book, Lavergne says something along the lines of "Martinez killed Whitman once. McCoy kills Whitman every day of his life." Basically he states that Martinez did get over it, but McCoy didn't.

See also at youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvjKN83iNPQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_LLVpJ-4NA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd8XilYCP2k

 

[tydephan]

Art,

Thanks for sharing your experience. It is always extremely intriguing to me to hear first-hand accounts of historical moments, whether they are great or tragic.

Thanks for taking the time to share.

John

 

[C96]

These two youtube videos shows a bit more info including some of the gunfire plus the first one has a good after action report.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAET3gFy5E8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTU5lPzKvjI

allan

 

[rhubarb]

Could you make the shot? With a pistol? With an iron sighted rifle? With a scoped rifle? The tower is 307 feet tall overall. I don't know about the observation deck. Tough shot anyhow.

Circled in red are the waterspouts from which Whitman was shooting.