Sunday, May 13, 2018
University of Texas tower shooting
On August 1st, 1966, former marine Charles Whitman after killing his wife and mother, took various rifles and weapons to the top of the observation deck of the main building tower at University of Texas and proceeded to shot at the students, teachers and passerby's on the campus. For over and hour and a half he shot at these civilians injuring 31 and killing 16. At the start of the shooting people did not know what was going on, they thought it could have been an anti-war protest. After locating the shooter Civilians and police started exchanging fire with Whitman as police got into the tower and worked their way to the top were they shot Whitman dead and were almost shot by the people on the ground who still believed Whitman was alive. It was later found out that his violent impulses were caused by a brain tumor he had been struggling with for years.
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Most incedents such as this one usually have to do with the agressor or the person doing the actions in this case it was a shooter having a mental issue or something wrong in them. It is quite unusual how he managed to injure 31 and kill 16 throughout hours without getting caught right away. It also was strange how he was going for anyone he could shoot. Maybe it was connected to the brain tumor, but who really knows.
ReplyDeleteI think that in the 90s from the several school shootings, it was then people became more aware of the gun prohibition laws and mental health issues within schools. Before these various shootings within suburban middle class neighborhood schools, people weren't as aware of the dangers of gun violence and how that could harm the school such as the Columbine massacre. When that incident occurred, people blamed various outside effects on the motivations of the kids including video games. However, it is often the most severe mental health issue history and gun regulations that they didn't see.
ReplyDeleteThis especially freaked people out because this guy had no clear target in mind. Your blog post mentions that he was a trained marine, and therefore knew how to hide and operate weapons. This event scared American because it was us who trained him, and he used it against us.
ReplyDeleteThis was one of the many shootings that had been overlooked. Many people believed that Columbine had been the first true incident of people taking out violence on others in an attempt to make them feel better about themselves. Columbine was only the start to the gun violence.
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