University of Texas tower shooting

Also known as: UT Tower shooting, Texas Tower sniper

Active: 1966–1966
Region: Austin, Texas, USA
State: TX
Kind: Mass
Status: Identified, never tried
Victims: 17

In the early hours of August 1, 1966, Charles Whitman, a 25-year-old UT Austin student and former Marine, killed his mother and his wife in their Austin apartments. Late that morning he carried guns to the top of the University of Texas Main Building tower and fired on people on the campus and nearby streets for about 90 minutes, killing 14 and wounding more than 30. Austin police officers Ramiro Martinez and Houston McCoy reached the observation deck and shot and killed him at 1:24 p.m., so he was never tried. One wounded student, David Gunby, died in 2001, and his death was ruled a homicide.

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Victims

We remember the people whose lives were taken.

Margaret Elizabeth Whitman, 43 · August 1, 1966
Whitman's mother, who had recently moved to Austin.
Kathleen Frances Whitman, 23 · August 1, 1966
Whitman's wife, a high school science teacher.
Edna Elizabeth Townsley, 51 · August 1, 1966
Receptionist on the Tower's 28th floor.
Mark Jerome Gabour, 16 · August 1, 1966
A visitor touring the Tower with his family.
Marguerite M. Lamport, 56 · August 1, 1966
Mark Gabour's aunt, visiting with the family.
Baby Boy Wilson · August 1, 1966
The unborn son of student Claire Wilson, who was eight months pregnant and survived.
Thomas Frederick Eckman, 18 · August 1, 1966
A UT freshman, Claire Wilson's boyfriend.
Robert Hamilton Boyer, 33 · August 1, 1966
A mathematician and physicist about to take up a post at the University of Liverpool.
Thomas Aquinas Ashton, 22 · August 1, 1966
A Peace Corps trainee.
Karen Joan Griffith, 17 · August 8, 1966
A high school student; she died of her wounds a week later.
Thomas Ray Karr, 24 · August 1, 1966
A UT senior, walking home after an exam.
Paul Bolton Sonntag, 18 · August 1, 1966
A recent high school graduate.
Claudia Marilyn Rutt, 18 · August 1, 1966
A recent high school graduate and dancer, Paul Sonntag's girlfriend.
Harry Walchuk, 38 · August 1, 1966
A graduate student and teacher, father of six.
Billy Paul Speed, 23 · August 1, 1966
An Austin police officer.
Roy Dell Schmidt, 29 · August 1, 1966
An electrician on a call near campus.
David Hubert Gunby, 23 · August 1, 1966
An engineering student, wounded in 1966; he died in 2001 and his death was ruled a homicide.

Timeline of locations

August 1, 1966
Margaret Whitman's apartment (Crime scene, approximate area)
In the early morning, Whitman killed his mother in her apartment on Guadalupe Street near downtown Austin.
August 1, 1966
Whitman apartment (south Austin) (Crime scene, approximate area)
Whitman then killed his wife, Kathleen, as she slept in the couple's apartment on Jewell Street in south Austin.
August 1, 1966
University of Texas Main Building (the Tower) (Crime scene)
Around 11:45 a.m. Whitman attacked the receptionist on the 28th floor and shot a family coming up the stairs, then fired from the observation deck, 231 feet up. Officers Ramiro Martinez and Houston McCoy reached the deck and killed him at 1:24 p.m.
August 1, 1966
South Mall, below the Tower (Crime scene)
Most of the victims were shot on the open campus below the Tower. Claire Wilson's unborn son and Thomas Eckman were the first shot; Officer Billy Speed was killed behind the South Mall balustrade, and Roy Schmidt was shot about 500 yards from the Tower.
August 1, 1966
Guadalupe Street ("the Drag") (Crime scene)
On Guadalupe Street, the commercial strip along the west edge of campus, Paul Sonntag and Claudia Rutt were shot behind a construction barricade, and Harry Walchuk was shot leaving a magazine store.

Watch, listen, read

Watch

Tower (2016, Keith Maitland)

Read

A Sniper in the Tower: The Charles Whitman Murders (1997, Gary M. Lavergne)

Sources

Each location also lists its own sources in the data file.