Charles Joseph Whitman was an American mass murderer who became known as the "Texas Tower Sniper". On August 1, 1966, Whitman used knives to kill his mother and his wife in their respective homes, then went to the University of Texas at Austin with multiple firearms and began indiscriminately shooting at people. He fatally shot three people inside UT Austin's Main Building, then accessed the 28th-floor observation deck on the building's clock tower. There, he fired at random people for 96 minutes, killing an additional eleven people and wounding 31 others before he was shot dead by Austin police officers. Whitman killed a total of seventeen people; the 17th victim died 35 years later from injuries sustained in the attack.
Whitman in 1963
Whitman, pictured at age two, c. early 1944
Whitman around 1959 (age 18)
Whitman and Leissner at their wedding in 1962
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 52,384 students as of Fall 2022, it is also the largest institution in the system.
The university's Old Main building in 1903
UT Architecture Library
The Tower, completed in 1937, stands 307 ft (94 m) tall and dons different colors of lighting on special occasions.
A police group has arrested a protestor with zip ties. Both protestors and student observers and other watchers have surrounded the police in outrage.