226
A
t approximately 11:30am
on 1 August 1966,
engineering student
Charles Whitman entered the clock
tower at the University of Texas at
Austin dressed as a maintenance
man. He hit the “27” button on the
lift and waited calmly as it rose to
the highest floor. He exited, pulling
a hand truck behind him. On it was
a footlocker containing an arsenal
of weapons and a cache of supplies.
He lugged the truck up four
flights of stairs to the foyer of the
observation deck, where he was
greeted by receptionist Edna
Townsley. Two strikes with a rifle
butt knocked her unconscious.
Whitman dragged her body behindIN CONTEXT
LOCATION
Austin, Texas, USTHEME
Mass shootingBEFORE
1897 In Borneo, Malaysia, a
man called Antakin discovers
his wife is having an affair and
runs amok, stabbing people at
random; 15 victims die.AFTER
1999 Two male students go on
a shooting spree at Columbine
High School in Colorado. In
less than 20 minutes they kill
13 people and maim 21 others.2011 In Norway, Anders
Breivik shoots 69 people at an
island youth camp hosted by
the country’s Labour Party.2012 Adam Lanza shoots 20
children and six staff at Sandy
Hook elementary school in
Newtown, Connecticut.I HAVE BEEN A
VICTIM OF MANY
UNUSUAL AND
IRRATIONAL
THOUGHTS
THE TEXAS TOWER MASSACRE, 1966
226-229_Texas_Tower.indd 226 02/12/2016 15:04
227
See also: The Murder of John Lennon 240 ■ The Assassination of John F. Kennedy 316–21a couch and left her for dead.
Brandishing two rifles, he muttered
a polite “hello” to Cheryl Botts and
Don Walden as they came in from
the observation deck; the couple
thought he was there to shoot
pigeons. After they left, Whitman
built a makeshift barricade at the
entrance to the reception area. As
a family group climbing the stairs
from the 27th floor approached it,
he shot and killed two of them and
wounded two others. Everything
was now in place. Whitman walked
out onto the observation deck and
laid out his weapons.Killer in the sky
At 11:48am, shots started to ring
out across an area that spanned
the length of five city blocks,
accompanied by clouds of gun
smoke billowing from the clock
tower. The first victim was a
student who was eight months
pregnant: she fell to the ground and
when her boyfriend tried to help her,
his body was pierced by a bullet.
Whitman then picked off other
students and staff members who
were walking around the campus.
Several were killed outright, while
the injured fell incapacitated or
hurried for cover. He then trained
his sights on a street that ran along
the western edge of the campus,
killing or wounding more people.
Hundreds of tourists, pedestrians,
and shop assistants witnessed the
carnage as they hid behind trees,
cowered under office desks, or, if
they had been hit, played dead.The police were called just four
minutes after Whitman began his
killing spree, and were quickly at
the scene. One officer took cover
behind a columned stone wall, but
Whitman sighted him in the space
between the columns, and shot him
with deadly accuracy. Active police
officers in Austin were soon ordered
to converge on the campus. They
were joined by a number of off-duty
officers, Texas Rangers, TravisMURDER CASES
An M-1 carbine, a sawn-off shotgun,
knives, and a machete were among the
stash of weapons Whitman took to the
clock tower (right). His rampage was
America’s first mass college shooting.County Sheriff’s deputies, and
citizens bearing hunting rifles.
Twenty minutes after Whitman had
killed his first victim, the people
70 metres (231 feet) below him were
beginning to return fire, and he
was forced to seek refuge behind
the thick walls of the observation
deck. Whitman was able to
continue shooting through the
tower’s waterspouts, but his range
was drastically reduced. ❯❯Charles Whitman
Charles Joseph Whitman was
born in Florida in 1941. Although
a good provider, his father was
a disciplinarian who beat and
berated his family. Charles was
a polite and intelligent child
who at the age of 12 became one
of the youngest Eagle Scouts in
Boy Scout history. In high school
he was a popular student, but
experienced medical problems.
After graduation, Whitman
joined the Marines, where he
earned several medals and a
Sharpshooter’s Badge. In 1961,he began to study mechanical
engineering at the University of
Texas at Austin, and married
a year later. In 1963, he was
recalled to Camp Lejeune to
finish his five-year enlistment.
There, he was court-martialled
for keeping a personal firearm
on base, and other infractions.
Despite this, he received an
honourable discharge in 1964.
Returning to the University of
Texas, he started studying
architectural engineering and
did temporary jobs. By 1966, he
was abusing amphetamines and
suffering severe headaches.226-229_Texas_Tower.indd 227 02/12/2016 15:04