Stabbing death rattles students on UT campus
UT mourns the slaying of freshman, Harrison Brown, the second killing in two years on the Austin campus. “There is fear, and that fear is justified,” UT President Greg Fenves said.
In the five decades after a gunman sprayed bullets from atop the University of Texas at Austin’s landmark tower, killing more than a dozen people and wounding 32 more, the state’s flagship university hadn’t seen an on-campus murder.
But UT mourned on Tuesday the stabbing death of freshman Harrison Brown, the second killing in two years on the Austin campus. Thirteen months ago, then-freshman Haruka Weiser was murdered, allegedly by a homeless teenager.
“There is fear, and that fear is justified,” UT President Greg Fenves said. “In 50 years, there had never been a violent murder, a murder on our campus, and to have two in one year is simply unexplainable. We have lots of emotions, including fear and distrust, and we recognize there is tremendous pain among the student body.”
A day of violence Monday left students rattled, taking to social media to grieve as local officials enhanced patrolling efforts.
Campus is quiet as students feel confused and upset, said Reeti Banthia, a senior studying computer science.
“This was harm done by a Longhorn to a Longhorn,” Banthia said. Students, she said, walked in pairs on Tuesday. “People don’t want to be alone right now.”
UT student Kendrex White, 21, is accused of fatally stabbing Brown and then injuring three other UT students with his knife. He was charged Tuesday with murder.
Area student injured
One student injured in the stabbing has been identified through a GoFundMe page created on Tuesday.
Stuart Bayliss is a graduate of Cinco Ranch High School, according to the page. It further states that his family resides in Katy and that his mother is a Katy ISD elementary school teacher.
Later that afternoon, another stabbing injured one person in Austin’s West Campus neighborhood. Police said Tuesday that they did not believe the stabbings were related. A man’s body was later discovered Monday in a West Campus apartment, but officials say they do not believe the death is suspicious.
Austin Police and University of Texas Police Department officers are patrolling campus with “significant presence,” UTPD Chief James Carter said. The department urged students to walk in pairs and stay in well-lit areas.
Department of Public Safety troopers in vehicles, on motorcycles, on bikes and on horses will patrol the West Campus neighborhood all day, every day “until told otherwise,” said DPS Commander Joe Ortiz.
UT’s counseling office extended open hours to be able to see more students Tuesday and Wednesday, and faculty and administrators will accommodate grieving students, Fenves said. Classes were canceled Monday afternoon but resumed Tuesday.
A memorial fund has raised about $80,000 in Brown’s honor, and students will gather Wednesday at a vigil.
‘Not a conspiracy’
White struggled with mental health issues and was recently involuntarily committed in another city, Carter said.
Carter said he did not believe White targeted individuals based on group affiliation, responding to social media rumors that White sought to hurt fraternity and sorority members. Vandals in April tagged UT fraternities with “rapist,” “racist” and “kill frat boys.” None of the people White allegedly stabbed on Monday wore Greek letter clothing, Carter said.
“This was not a conspiracy — this was not a person that had a vendetta against any particular group,” Carter said.
Austin Police Chief Brian Manley said police should have alerted campus more quickly to the second stabbing. Social media posts in the early afternoon described someone threatening people with a knife, which university police initially said were not credible. Later in the evening, Austin Police confirmed that there was a stabbing on West Campus and attributed the delay to officers’ focus on the initial investigation.
Manley told students to stay alert around campus.
“Be aware of who’s around you. We all walk around with our cell phones, our iPhones, our tablets,” he said. “We have earbuds in — we listen to music, and sometimes we lose sense of our surroundings.” lindsay.ellis@chron.com twitter.com/lindsayaellis