50 years ago he went to the top of the Tower. (war, bomb)

[hound 109]

Anybody else remember this event (on this day 50 years ago)? It was a big story in our neck of the world.

Here's a link to a discussion on our board:

//www.city-data.com/forum/austi...-shooting.html

With the recent shootings in the US and with gun control a topic, it's interesting to look at events of the past.

- On one hand, Charlie had access to guns. (& as a discharged Marine, knew how to use them)
- On the other hand, local citizens kept him occupied & kept his head down, which prevented dozens of further casualties.

Was it because of a tumor?
Was it because he was an abused kid (& his mom was an abused mom)?
Was it because he abused prescription drugs?
Or was it because he was a wack-job?
.

[OpanaPointer]

Texas Tower Massacre. I remember the police had to call the armored car companies to borrow vehicles to rescue people pinned down by Mr. Whitman.

[hound 109]

Originally Posted by OpanaPointer

Texas Tower Massacre. I remember the police had to call the armored car companies to borrow vehicles to rescue people pinned down by Mr. Whitman.

Correct Opana. Whitman was picking off anyone who tried to help the wounded on the ground, so the Armored cars were definitely needed.

& the police (at least in Austin) didn't have SWAT teams back in that time. 3 guys (two cops and a civilian) worked their way (independently) forward & ended up at the Tower. The phones were down, so they had no communication with anyone else.

They knew something had to be done NOW. They created a plan on the fly (& the cops deputized the civilian) & they went in.

[Meyerland]

My parents were on campus when it happened. Very scary indeed. it was life changing for many people to realize the evil in this world.

[Unsettomati]

A worthy - if depressing - write-up from Texas Monthly on the story. This one comment caught my eye.

Both the Associated Press and United Press International would rank the shootings as the second most important story of the year, behind only the war in Vietnam.

96 Minutes

And today? Now it would be just another massacre. The murder rate is lower today than it was in 1966, but we have far more of these large-scale killings. Today, the story would be overshadowed by some other slaughter before too long.

What has always struck me as odd about Charles Whitman is that rampages of these sorts are usually done by people expressing a great deal of anger. But Whitman left a 'suicide' note in which he expressed mystification at his actions (the killings of his wife and mother) and labelled them as irrational. He seemed to have some self-awareness that he was mentally ill. Instead of expressing rage, he was almost apologetic. I don't know what to make of that. Very bizarre. Really, it seems as though all of these actions on his part were simply an elaborate suicide. Very odd.

Side note:
The worst school massacre is still in our distant past - Bath, which occurred in 1927.

Bath School bombing: Remembering the deadliest school massacre in American history.

[OpanaPointer]

Originally Posted by hound 109

Correct Opana. Whitman was picking off anyone who tried to help the wounded on the ground, so the Armored cars were definitely needed.

& the police (at least in Austin) didn't have SWAT teams back in that time. 3 guys (two cops and a civilian) worked their way (independently) forward & ended up at the Tower. The phones were down, so they had no communication with anyone else.

They knew something had to be done NOW. They created a plan on the fly (& the cops deputized the civilian) & they went in.

I call that "sorting time". Sort out those that can and will from those that won't.