The day the shooting began
U of Texas clock tower attack 50 years ago was first major U.S. lone gunman mass killing
AUSTIN, TEXAS— On Aug. 1, 1966, Charles Whitman ascended the University of Texas clock tower with a trunk full of weapons and unleashed 96 minutes of terror that effectively became a template for mass shootings and aroused in the public a new sensitivity to the threat of violence in public spaces.
Whitman, a 25-year-old student, Eagle Scout and Marine veteran, killed a receptionist and two members of a visiting family inside the tower. He then went onto the observation deck and began spraying sniper fire, turning a tranquil summertime campus into a scene of chaos and death.
In the half-century since, Whitman’s savagery has been echoed in mass shootings on other university campuses and at workplaces, elementary schools, post offices, movie theatres and nightclubs.
And what seemed unthinkable in 1966 was re-enacted with alarming repetition in places such as Columbine High School in Colorado, Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. and the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla.
“When I hear there’s another tragic shooting at a university, my heart breaks and I relive every excruciating moment of pain and mental anguish, knowing what the survivors or loved ones of those who are injured are going to go through,” said Adrian Littlefield, a semi-retired minister from Kirbyville, Texas, who was severely wounded in the University of Texas attack.
Whitman left a devastating carnage. Fourteen campus victims died that day, and more than 30 were wounded. Investigators also discovered that, hours earlier, Whitman had killed his wife and his mother, leaving behind a note tersely declaring “Both dead.”
And, in a grim epilogue 35 years later, former electrical engineering student David H. Gunby died of kidney wounds sustained in the attack, bringing the death toll to 17.
On Monday, the university will dedicate a six-foot-tall red granite marker inscribed with the victims’ names as it observes the 50th anniversary of the darkest day in its history. “We have not as a society and a communi- ty done enough to remember the victims of this tragedy, and we’re going to have a very respectful ceremony,” said Gregory L. Fenves, the university president, who embraced efforts to erect a monument after taking office in June 2015. “This is part of our history at the University of Texas, we’re not going to hide from it, and I think we’ll be a stronger community by coming together to remember the tragedy.”
And as the school marks one of the bloodiest campus shootings in U.S. history, it will do so on the day that it is newly complying with a state law permitting concealed firearms inside university buildings, a measure enacted in 2015 by legislature in a victory for gun rights proponents.
Legislative supporters of the law said it was needed to protect students from the kind of violence that has taken place at the University of Texas and other schools.
But Fenves and an apparent majority of students and faculty members oppose the law, saying universities are no place for firearms.
“I’m glad that we aren’t letting the implementation of campus-carry mask the importance of that date,” said the student body president, Kevin Helgren, who will participate in Monday’s ceremony for the sniper victims. As the midday commemoration begins the tower clock will be turned off for only the second time in its history, at 11:48 a.m., the time Whitman began firing.