"Does anyone know who Charles Whitman was?"

[weirdo0521]

"None of you dumbasses knows?"
Cowboy slowly raises his hand.
"Private Cowboy?"
"Was he the guy that shot a lot of people
from a roof?"
"That's right, Private Cowboy. He shot and
killed twelve people from a 28-story observation
tower at the University of Texas, from distances
of up to four hundred yards."
The recruits look impressed.
"Does anybody know who Lee Harvey Oswald
was?"
That's easy. Almost every hand goes up.
"Private Snowball?"
Private Snowball says, "He shot Kennedy, Sir!"
"That's right. And do you know how far away
he was?"
"It was pretty far. From that book
suppository building, sir!"
"Two hundred and fifty" feet. He was two
hundred and fifty feet away and shooting at a
moving target. He got off three shots with a bolt
action rifle in six seconds, and got two hits,
including a head shot. Do you know where those
men learned to shoot like that?"
No one knows. Joker raises his hand.
"Private Joker."
"In the Marines sir?"
"In the Marines. Outstanding! Now those
people did not put their Marine training to a good
purpose but they showed what a Marina with his
rifle can do, and before I am through you will all
be able to do the same thing."


By now, Americans are virtually unshockable. When we hear of the latest workplace shooting, the latest school shooting, the latest loner who snapped and took others with him to his final rest, we are saddened, certainly, but not shocked. It has happened so often that we’ve long since lost count of the shooters and the victims, long since forgotten which towns bear the indelible marks of random violence. So it is difficult for us to understand the horror to which Americans were introduced by Charles Whitman on August 1, 1966. Until Whitman undertook his shooting spree in Austin, Texas, public space felt safe and most citizens were utterly convinced they were comfortably removed from brutality and terror. After August 1, 1966, things would never be the same.



http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_m ... dex_1.html

[AdamBomb8]

There is so much saturation in terms of news channels and the media in general its no wonder nobody is shocked. "If it bleeds it leads" is the medias mantra. We see it and say

[txaggirl91]

there is a great article in the Texas Monthly about what happend in Austin 40 years ago.

http://www.texasmonthly.com/preview/2006-08-01/feature

[ph4ever]

I remember that day - a sad day in Texas history. For years after the tower was closed to the public. Still to this day whenever I'm in Austin or even see a picture of the tower my heart goes out to the victims.

[AdamBomb8]

There was a movie made about it in 1975 called The Deadly Tower. Kurt Russell portrayed Charles Whitman. It was a pretty good movie.

http://www.badmovieplanet.com/3btheater ... tower.html