Austin UT Student shot | 911--help arrives too late.

[MudPuppy]

UT student shot in apartment
Updated: 11/2/2005 7:39 AM
By: Bob Robuck

William Trey Ehrhardt
A rose at the foot of the door tells the story of tragedy and loss.

William Trey Ehrhardt, 22, a senior, majoring in math, at The University of Texas, was gunned down in his apartment Monday evening.

"I heard glass break and it was really, really loud, and I thought it was somebody's screen door from the condos next door," neighbor Jane Mash said.

Ehrhardt was taken to Brackenridge Hospital. He died Tuesday morning.

Friends and neighbors say they are having a hard time processing all that has happened.

"It's tough. I talked to him the day before it happened. A couple of friends talked to him the day of. It hits home, but ... it was ...cold-blooded," friend Dan Nickel said.


Student shot

William Trey Ehrhardt was shot in his apartment on Monday. He died Tuesday at the hospital.


Police say Ehrhardt called 911 and reported that someone was breaking into his West Campus apartment. About the time an officer arrived at Ehrhardt's complex, police dispatchers received another 911 call from someone else. That person said they heard shots fired and the sound of breaking glass.

"When officers responded to the scene, they located the victim, Trey Ehrhardt, in his apartment suffering from a gunshot wound," Sgt. Hector Reveles of the Austin Police Department said.

It was just a few months ago that another grisly crime happened in the area. UT student Jennifer Cave was shot, stabbed, and dismembered. Police arrested the man they believe murdered her. He's awaiting trial.

That's two deadly shootings within the last two months, and that doesn't include all the petty crimes that have happened in the West Campus area.Still, other students that live in the neighborhood say they feel safe.

"I feel fine. I've lived here for a year-and-a-half, and nothing major has happened here other than this shooting and the drunk kid who killed his girlfriend," resident Collin Evans said.

"I'm no more scared than I was moving here, because there are all these homeless people walking by and people that try to talk to you. But I'm graduating this semester so I don't have to think about it," resident Daphna Kruger said.

Still, most say the crimes in the area have them a little edgy, and they plan to exercise a little more caution.

Anyone with information on the Ehrhardt case should call APD's Homicide tip line at (512) 477-3588 or CrimeStoppers at (512) 472-8477.

http://news8austin.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=148897

 

[Infidel]

"I feel fine. I've lived here for a year-and-a-half, and nothing major has happened here other than this shooting and the drunk kid who killed his girlfriend," resident Collin Evans said.

"I'm no more scared than I was moving here, because there are all these homeless people walking by and people that try to talk to you. But I'm graduating this semester so I don't have to think about it," resident Daphna Kruger said.

Wow. Absolute perfect examples of braindead blissninnyism.

 

[Darth Ruger]

But I'm graduating this semester so I don't have to think about it," resident Daphna Kruger said.

Now there's a victim waiting to happen. Don't bother taking steps to protect yourself from violence, just put it out of your mind and don't pay attention to what's going on around you. Walk around in a blissful daze and nothing will ever happen, right?

 

[Darth Ruger]

Infidel,
looks like you and I were thinking the same thing at the same time.

 

[belton-deer-hunter]

another example

just think a ccw might have saved his life it is a perfect example of y guns are good:banghead:

 

[AnthonyRSS]

It won't happen to me. I'm different from them.

 

[Aguila Blanca]

Wow. Absolute perfect examples of braindead blissninnyism.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

"Aside from the fact that two students have been murdered in their apartments within the last two months I feel really safe here."

I'll assume a person who would say this probably is not majoring in logic.

 

[jason10mm]

The man didn't need a CCW, if he was inside his own apartment he could have had guns on every flat surface and it would have been legal in Texas!

What I want to know is how someone hears breaking glass and thinks of a screen door? By definition a screen door has a SCREEN, glass would defeat the purpose!

 

[Drizzt]

Wow. Absolute perfect examples of braindead blissninnyism.

That's an Austin/UT specialty.....

 

[Darth Ruger]

The man didn't need a CCW, if he was inside his own apartment he could have had guns on every flat surface and it would have been legal in Texas!

"...someone was breaking into his West Campus apartment."

On-campus housing? No guns allowed? Sounds like a target-rich environment to me (just like all the elementary, junior high, and high schools). The article even said there's been a bunch of other crimes in the area. What does it take to wake people up?

What I want to know is how someone hears breaking glass and thinks of a screen door?

I was wondering the same thing.

"just a few months ago...UT student Jennifer Cave was shot, stabbed, and dismembered."

Nah, nothing bad ever happens there...

 

[waterhouse]

This was a pretty hot topic around here last night. I hate to say it, but it takes stuff like this and hurricane katrina for my friends to actually stop and think "wow, my plan of calling the police to protect me might not be such a good one."

Of course, I'm sure that in a couple weeks they will have forgotten all about it and will once again enter into the "I don't need to take care of myself, the police will do that for me" mindset.

 

[EYESOFTEXAS]

I live in Austin.

UT alumn.

Saddened by this news.

I hope it ain't another case of evacuee opportunism in Texas.

 

[Spreadfire Arms]

Darthruger wrote:

Quote:
The man didn't need a CCW, if he was inside his own apartment he could have had guns on every flat surface and it would have been legal in Texas!

Quote:
"...someone was breaking into his West Campus apartment."

On-campus housing? No guns allowed?

for clarification, it is not on campus, it is the area directly west of the UT campus, so guns and gun ownership is totally legal there.

yes, the guy did not need a CHL to have a firearm in his apartment.

yes, if the guy had a firearm it could have saved his life.

no, i do not think there will be a rush for UT students to go purchase firearms in Austin. i wish they would though!

this situation is not unique to Austin, but is rife in almost every college institution, where most college students come from upper middle class families that do not live in bad neighborhoods.

most UT students, like other college students in America, have their parent's financial support. they were raised in good communities with not a whole lot of violent crime, so when something like this happens, they may get frightened for a few days, but then they forget about it because life goes on. UT will still have term papers, deadlines, tests, etc.

believe me, i went to UT. i also went to UC Berkeley, where during my years there, 1990 to 1994, we had a student killed on campus practically every year, had a hostage situation my freshman year at a bar called Henry's on Durant Avenue right next to the Unit 1 dorm (google search: "Mehrdad Dashti Berkeley hostage" and you can read about it), and violent crime was and still is very rampant in that city. during that era in California, it was not overly difficult to buy a firearm. you could walk with a rifle or shotgun from a gun shop with your ID and a 4473 and DROS, handguns were a 10 day wait.

i didn't see any college students i know go out and buy more guns as a result of those situations. i already had a few

 

[Standing Wolf]

That's two deadly shootings within the last two months, and that doesn't include all the petty crimes that have happened in the West Campus area.Still, other students that live in the neighborhood say they feel safe.

I'm sure the predators feel even safer.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

Sure, if the vic owned a gun and knew how to use it, it could have saved his life. Then gain, if the vic had a baseball bat and knew how to use it, it could have saved his life. A good Ben Hogan driver makes for an excellent close quaters blunt instrument. Or, if the vic had been skilled in martial arts...or if the vic had hardened his apartment to invasion (bars), yaddy yaddy yaddy. Maybe if the vic had taken the time to assess his situation and have a plan in place for a home invasion, he could have egressed the apt while the intruders were on the way in, but he used the phone instead.

While this is a gun forum, a gun is not always the answer to everything. Many things could have come into play that would have saved his life, but there isn't any indication from the article that any did. For all we know, the vic owned guns but never thought to get one. Maybe he kept them locked up tight and ammo in another location and so never had time to get both a gun and ammo together before the intruder did his thing.

With a long college career, I lived in a lot of college apartments. I made it a matter of practice to have multiple ways of getting out of my apartment, regardless of whether I was at ground level, 2nd floor, studio, or whatever. The primary reason for knowing how to get out was more out of a fear of fire instead of instrusion, but I always had a way out. The best defense is to not be where the threat is. That is a catchall statement inclusive of home invasion, fire, flood, hurricane, etc.

Any sort of self preservation strategy takes planning. Most college kids don't plan. In fact, they don't think about too many bad things until it happens to someone they know.

I don't follow the 911 slam of the title. It is a response system, not a pre-emptive strike system. If we had enough cops to make a response system work almost instaneously, we would be over run by the police and most folks would be in fear of a police state, no? Of course, there would be a lot of fire trucks around and firemen.

I am not blaming the vic for being killed. I just don't think being in possession of a firearm would necessarily have changed things given his lack of preparation...and he may have owned guns that he didn't deploy, but we don't know.