Art Eatman
Moderator In Memoriam
I wuz PMed about the event, so here goes, again:
Whitman had gone to the university student health center several times, complaining of headaches. Later discussions after the event led to speculation of a tumor, mentioned in Kinky Friedman's "The Ballad of Charles Whitman".
The night before the shooting he killed his wife with his hunting knife. The next morning, he went to his mother's house and killed her with the knife.
He had bought a break-open single-shot 12 gauge from (IIRC) Sears a couple days before the shooting. He borrowed a neighbor's hacksaw to make it into a pistol.
He had a footlocker on a dolly, with all his gear. He was dressed in khakis, appearing to be a university workman. Elevator to the top, and into the access office. He used the shotgun pistol on the secretary there. A family of four came in as he was hiding the body behind a couch; he shot and killed two of them with the "pistol" and wounded one other.
It is surmised that the interruption delayed his schedule; that he had intended to begin shooting at the beginning of class-period change when the mall would be full. As it was, he had only about five minutes of "free time".
His first shootings from the observation deck were to the south mall of the main building, with the M-1 Carbine. After people took cover, he shifted to the 6mm Rem.
I don't remember reading of a second pistol besides the .357, nor had I heard about the .35 Rem. No matter; not saying it ain't so...He did have five gallons of water plus suchlike as sardines, tuna fish, crackers and, disremember, some bread, maybe.
A civilian employee of the University Co-Op bookstore who had been a WW II vet of city fighting in Europe was the "guide" and instructor. It was the two young Austin policemen who saw and killed Whitman. Revolver and shotgun. The vet explained the how-tos about exiting the door onto the south deck. At the time, ground fire had forced Whitman to the NW corner. The vet went west; the cops went east and then north and then saw Whitman to their west. My bet is "Bang, freeze, bang-bang-bang." Proper procedure IMO, anyway.
At Rotary meeting the week after the shooting, Col. Homer Garrison, then head of Texas' Department of Public Safety, told my father that had it not been for civilian deer-rifle ground fire, Whitman could have been up there until his water gave out. The ground fire forced him away from control of the access door through which the police got onto the observation deck.
No SWAT teams back then. The Austin PD had some old self-loaders of .30 Remington style. Deer hunters were the only help there was. A few optimists were popping away with pistols, with short rounds going through windows a floor or two low. One secretary was wondering how the Bad Guy could make the bullets curve back inside. Oh, well...
My small part in the deal: I'd bought a house in west Austin, and had driven by the old apartment at 1904 University Avenue to check the mailbox. I saw what looked like a fender-bender at 20th street, so I walked down (northward) to gawk. Natcherly, I checked my watch by the Tower clock.
Fortunately for me, he was shooting to the west at the time. When I got to the intersection, someone said there was somebody on the Tower, shooting at people. I disappeared behind a pecan tree's trunk.
Standing out in the street were two guys from the city electric department. I heard the reverse of deer hunting: First the "thwop" and then the "bang". One guy down. 420 yards. We got a guy to interpose his car, and I outdid any and all Olympic sprinters in getting to cover to go get an ambulance.
Whitman never shot at any ambulance, that day.
Anyhow, I stayed in the cover/concealment of a church building on the corner of what's now MLK and University, playing MP and directing traffic. People wanted to stop and gawk. Dumb people. Some of those who were shot had heard the "Stay away!" on their radios at home, and drove over to the campus to watch. I guess I spent over a half an hour, screaming at idiots.
The Kappa Sig house (no longer there) faced the Tower, in the Tee of MLK and 19th. Three of them walked outside to sit down in a line behind a little four-inch oak tree. Just as I yelled that it wasn't a wise idea, I saw a clump of turf pop up by one of their feet. About 550 yards. Think "Levitation" and "Disappearance". Instanter.
After Whitman was killed, one of the guys had to wave a white handkerchief or tee shirt to get cessation of shots from the ground...
August, 1966. Probably around 102F, that day. Not fun.
FWIW,
Art
Whitman had gone to the university student health center several times, complaining of headaches. Later discussions after the event led to speculation of a tumor, mentioned in Kinky Friedman's "The Ballad of Charles Whitman".
The night before the shooting he killed his wife with his hunting knife. The next morning, he went to his mother's house and killed her with the knife.
He had bought a break-open single-shot 12 gauge from (IIRC) Sears a couple days before the shooting. He borrowed a neighbor's hacksaw to make it into a pistol.
He had a footlocker on a dolly, with all his gear. He was dressed in khakis, appearing to be a university workman. Elevator to the top, and into the access office. He used the shotgun pistol on the secretary there. A family of four came in as he was hiding the body behind a couch; he shot and killed two of them with the "pistol" and wounded one other.
It is surmised that the interruption delayed his schedule; that he had intended to begin shooting at the beginning of class-period change when the mall would be full. As it was, he had only about five minutes of "free time".
His first shootings from the observation deck were to the south mall of the main building, with the M-1 Carbine. After people took cover, he shifted to the 6mm Rem.
I don't remember reading of a second pistol besides the .357, nor had I heard about the .35 Rem. No matter; not saying it ain't so...He did have five gallons of water plus suchlike as sardines, tuna fish, crackers and, disremember, some bread, maybe.
A civilian employee of the University Co-Op bookstore who had been a WW II vet of city fighting in Europe was the "guide" and instructor. It was the two young Austin policemen who saw and killed Whitman. Revolver and shotgun. The vet explained the how-tos about exiting the door onto the south deck. At the time, ground fire had forced Whitman to the NW corner. The vet went west; the cops went east and then north and then saw Whitman to their west. My bet is "Bang, freeze, bang-bang-bang." Proper procedure IMO, anyway.
At Rotary meeting the week after the shooting, Col. Homer Garrison, then head of Texas' Department of Public Safety, told my father that had it not been for civilian deer-rifle ground fire, Whitman could have been up there until his water gave out. The ground fire forced him away from control of the access door through which the police got onto the observation deck.
No SWAT teams back then. The Austin PD had some old self-loaders of .30 Remington style. Deer hunters were the only help there was. A few optimists were popping away with pistols, with short rounds going through windows a floor or two low. One secretary was wondering how the Bad Guy could make the bullets curve back inside. Oh, well...
My small part in the deal: I'd bought a house in west Austin, and had driven by the old apartment at 1904 University Avenue to check the mailbox. I saw what looked like a fender-bender at 20th street, so I walked down (northward) to gawk. Natcherly, I checked my watch by the Tower clock.
Fortunately for me, he was shooting to the west at the time. When I got to the intersection, someone said there was somebody on the Tower, shooting at people. I disappeared behind a pecan tree's trunk. Standing out in the street were two guys from the city electric department. I heard the reverse of deer hunting: First the "thwop" and then the "bang". One guy down. 420 yards. We got a guy to interpose his car, and I outdid any and all Olympic sprinters in getting to cover to go get an ambulance.
Whitman never shot at any ambulance, that day.
Anyhow, I stayed in the cover/concealment of a church building on the corner of what's now MLK and University, playing MP and directing traffic. People wanted to stop and gawk. Dumb people. Some of those who were shot had heard the "Stay away!" on their radios at home, and drove over to the campus to watch. I guess I spent over a half an hour, screaming at idiots.
The Kappa Sig house (no longer there) faced the Tower, in the Tee of MLK and 19th. Three of them walked outside to sit down in a line behind a little four-inch oak tree. Just as I yelled that it wasn't a wise idea, I saw a clump of turf pop up by one of their feet. About 550 yards. Think "Levitation" and "Disappearance". Instanter.
After Whitman was killed, one of the guys had to wave a white handkerchief or tee shirt to get cessation of shots from the ground...
August, 1966. Probably around 102F, that day. Not fun.
FWIW,
Art
