Charles Whitman (25) took a stockpile of guns and ammunition
to the observatory platform atop a 300-foot tower at the University
of Texas and proceeded to shoot 46 people, killing 14 people
and wounding 32.
Whitman, who had killed both his wife and mother the night ,
before, was eventually shot to death after courageous Austin
police officers, including Ramiro Martinez, charged up the
stairs of the tower to subdue the attacker.
Whitman, a former Eagle Scout and Marine, began to suffer
serious mental problems after his mother left his father in
March 1966.
On March 29, he told a psychiatrist that he was having
uncontrollable fits of anger.
He purportedly even told this doctor that he was thinking
about going up to the tower with a rifle and shooting people.
Unfortunately the doctor didn’t follow up on this red flag.
