[bright music]
[engine turns over]
[radio adjusting]
- This is Neal Spelce
in Red Rover
on the University
of Texas campus.
This is a warning
to the citizens of Austin.
Stay away
from the University area.
Stay away from
the University area.
There is a sniper
on the University Tower
firing at will.
[gunshot]
[soft piano music]
[gunshot]
- Bah da bah da da da
Bah da bah da da da
Bah da bah da da da
- Monday, Monday
- Bah da bah da da da
- So good to me
- Bah da bah da da da
- We had taken
an anthropology test
so we got out of class
early that day.
My boyfriend Tom and I
were drinking coffee
at the Chuck Wagon
at the Student Union.
[people chattering]
- Hey, Claire.
[indistinct chattering]
- We knew that
if we didn't go quickly
and put another nickel
in the meter,
we'd get a pink slip
and we already had two.
I think if you had three,
you couldn't park on campus
any longer.
- Sometimes it just
turns out that way
- Oh, Monday mornin'
You gave me no warnin'
- We were kind of disagreeing.
Well, he was worried
that I wasn't
getting enough nutrition
for the baby.
And I said, "Well, Tom, I had
orange juice this morning."
[gunshot]
I just felt this...
This huge jolt.
[gunshot]
Like I'd stepped on
a live wire.
Like I'd been electrocuted.
Tom said--
- Baby!
- And reached out for me,
and then...
[gunshot]
[gunshot]
[heavy breathing]
- What're you doing?
Get up from there.
- Please call a doctor!
- Get your books.
[gunshot]
- Please! Help us!
[somber music]
- Every other day
- Every other day
Every other day
Every other day
of the week is fine
- I had a paper route around
the University of Texas.
It was the biggest route
in Austin
and everybody wanted
to get that route.
I had my cousin with me.
Sometimes he would help me
with my paper route.
I was not supposed
to work that day.
The regular guy was supposed
to get back from vacation
that day.
At about 10:00 that morning,
the paper called me
and asked if I could
do that route one more day.
- But Monday mornin'
Monday mornin'
couldn't guarantee
That--
[radio adjusting]
[slow country music]
- I was either
filling out reports or...
just taking it easy
a little bit.
Listening to my radio.
On the Country Western.
[up-tempo country music]
I do remember one song
that played that morning
was "Waterloo."
- Waterloo
- I kinda felt
that after that day...
Well, here's your Waterloo
coming up for somebody.
- Every puppy has its day
Everybody has to pay
Everybody has to meet
his Waterloo
- It was hot that day.
It must've been
100 degrees.
[faint popping]
I started making my deliveries
and I heard some sounds,
like popping.
It sounded like firecrackers.
[pop]
[pop]
[gunshot]
[gunshot]
[KTBC Radio jingle plays]
- Austin, Texas
- August 1st started out
as a typical summer day
in Austin, Texas.
And it was a day
that you sat around, frankly.
And we were trying
to decide...
Okay, what do we
cover today?
[spotty police dispatch]
- Main Tower...
University of Texas...
- Then the radio
called my number
and I was trying to make out
what they were saying,
but it just wasn't
coming through.
[static]
- I...I can't...I can't
make out what you're saying.
You keep cutting out now.
- He said somethin' 'bout...
- 44...108...
- Finally I decipher
University of Texas.
So...I just said I was headed
toward the University of Texas.
- We had police radios,
of course,
throughout the newsroom.
- And then, within seconds...
- There's a guy on top
of the Tower and he's shooting.
Shooting at people,
and they're dispatching officers
as best they can
to the scene.
- Police operator.
- This is Michael Hall,
there's just been a gunshot
right in front of the Tower.
[gunshot]
- I heard what I thought
were two firecrackers.
And I thought,
"Somebody still has
firecrackers
from the Fourth of July."
- Police operator.
- Hi, this is the Department
of English at the University.
Someone has been shot,
we believe, outside.
Someone is shooting
from the Tower.
- I was in Shakespeare class
when it started.
And we all ran to the windows
of the English Building.
[gunshot]
We just stood there peering out
over each other's shoulders.
[gunshot]
- I realized that there was
someone shooting from the Tower
and that if I could see him,
he could see me.
- There are snipers.
Somebody has shot
four different people.
[gunshot]
- Yes, ma'am,
it's been reported.
She says four people
have been shot up there so far.
- As I ran behind the car,
the shot from the rifle
sounded like
it was almost in my ear,
and I could hear
the bullet ricochet.
When I asked
if anyone had been hit,
someone said five people,
including a little boy
on a bicycle.
[gunshot]
- When I got shot,
we both fell down.
[gunshot]
[ears ringing]
- You're gonna be okay.
You're gonna be okay, honey.
He's gonna be okay.
[faint gunshot]
- My God, what happened?
- He's been shot.
[gunshot]
- I had been working at
the University of Texas Co-Op
since 8:30 A.M.
I noticed across the street
a small group.
- What's going on?
- Looks like a fight.
[traffic bustling]
I got across the street
and found
the boy had been shot.
All right, let's stop
this bleeding here.
And so I tried to stop
the flow of blood.
You okay?
You're gonna be all right.
[gunshots]
I heard reports
that I recognized as gunshots
but I could not tell
where they were coming from.
[gunshot]
- I didn't know
what had happened at all.
[gunshot]
I thought that I felt
the baby kind of...
fall to the side?
So I thought he probably
wasn't alive any longer.
You know, by the eighth month
your baby's moving a lot
and...after I got shot,
the baby never moved.
"Tom?" I called out to him.
Tom...
But Tom never said
another word.
[cries]
[country Western music]
- You know, I-I thought
it was already over with.
Lawman gets there,
and by then
it's usually over with,
you know?
- Texas
You know that we love you
And we praise you
We want you to know
[gunshot]
[radio clicks off]
- Then I-I finally realized
something was happening
that I ain't ever seen before.
[loud gunshot]
I just thought--There's
a thousand windows up there,
and a thousand Black Panthers.
A revolution.
[gunshot]
And the hair just stood up
on the back of my neck.
[gunshot]
And I must say I was scared.
It was bigger than me.
[Tower bell ringing]
- There's a guy on top
of the Tower and he's shooting.
Shooting at people.
- I told the disc jockey
on duty. I says,
"Give us some news intro music
and throw it to me."
[news intro music]
And I'll take it
from there.
I began my broadcast as I was
driving up to the Tower.
"This is Neal Spelce
in Red Rover
"on the University of Texas
campus.
"This is a warning
to the citizens of Austin.
"Stay away from
the University area.
"There is a sniper
on the University Tower
"firing at will."
[gunshot]
- Well, I was just expecting
another routine day.
I had dropped my daughters
off at daycare,
my wife was at work,
and my shift didn't start
until 3:00 P.M.
- ...Clean look
to your carpets.
This Austin vacuum rebuilt
Hoover beats as it sweeps--
- This is a KLRN
news bulletin.
A sniper with
a high-powered rifle
has taken up a position
on the observation deck
of the Tower on the campus
of the University of Texas.
- So I got on the telephone.
- Police operator.
- Hey, this is Martinez.
Do they need anybody?
- Pardon me?
- And I called the station.
This is Martinez.
Do they need anybody?
- Captain Martinez is on.
Do you want him to come out?
[gunshot]
Uh, yes, Sir.
He'd, uh, he'd like you
to come on out if you will.
- Okay, I'll be right over.
- Okay, that's
at the University.
- Then I called my wife
at work and I said,
"Dear, I'm gonna go there.
"But don't worry 'cause
I'm gonna go work traffic."
- I couldn't get back
across the street
because I figured
I might get shot myself.
I moved on
to the next building.
[gunshot]
I tried to find
a telephone to call my wife.
My wife knew
it was my lunch hour
and I knew
that she would worry.
So...
[gunshot]
I knew that if I could
make it to the Tower
that I could make contact
with the store...
[slow-mo gunshot]
And my wife.
[school bell rings]
- What a day
for a daydream
What a day
for a daydreaming boy
- I went to high school
at Austin High.
Graduated May of '66.
I wanted to get freshman
English out of the way
so I started at the University
of Texas in the summer.
- And even if time
ain't really on my side
It's one of those days
for taking a walk outside
- We went to class that
morning,
and then during
the lunch break
I went over to play chess
with James Love.
- And fall on my face
On somebody's
new mowed lawn
- James and I had graduated
from Austin High together
in May.
And I went over to where
he lived at the STAG Co-Op.
- Since I woke up today
It's starring me
and my sweet dream
- We were listening
to the Top 40
and playing chess
in his room.
[record scratches]
- We interrupt this program
to bring you
a special bulletin
from ABC Radio.
- They said somebody was on top
of the Tower with an air rifle.
- Air rifle? [chuckles]
- Shooting with an air rifle.
Didn't sound dangerous to us.
Sounded exciting.
- You wanna go check it out?
- Yeah, let's go.
[upbeat rock music]
- Things may go
and things may stay
- We were just walking down
the middle of a road
and a guy waved at us.
"Get out," you know?
"Get under cover."
[gunshot]
"Get out of the street."
[gunshot]
And that
was the first sign we had
that things
were "bad" wrong.
[faint gunshots]
By the time that James and I
had walked onto campus...
I'm sure over a dozen people
had been murdered...
and we didn't know it.
- This is a KLRN
news bulletin.
A sniper
with a high-powered rifle
is firing at persons
within his range.
All Austin-area residents
are warned
to stay away from
the University of Texas area.
- It's an unbelievable sight.
The serene
University of Texas campus,
a temperature approaching
100 degrees now,
and a madman located on top
of the University Tower
firing and shooting at any
movable target that he can see.
- The shot that hit me
bypassed me
and ricocheted
off the building.
Everybody was
in a state of panic.
- Then what happened?
- Then everybody ran.
- It's like a battle scene.
It's like--There he goes!
And another shot. There are
two different kinds of shots.
Apparently police are
returning the fire now.
- I got lucky, considering
what happened to other people.
- There's no report
as to who this man may be,
or what he's doing up there,
or what prompted
this apparent madness.
- We passed the steps
to the Undergraduate Library.
As we were about
to the corner, he shot.
[gunshots]
And I laid there
for about...
Oh, probably 15 or 20 minutes.
- We didn't know
who was being killed.
Students on campus
were being shot.
People were dying.
[gunshots]
- It was just chaos.
- I was looking
through the binoculars
when all of a sudden
I realized,
he's pointing that rifle
right at me.
I couldn't believe how close
I'd gotten to being shot.
- We can see the movement
under the clock
on the south side of
the University of Texas Tower,
and police are returning
the fire.
- There's this guy
who's shooting
at everyone he can see.
What is the matter with him?
- The man is located
on the University Tower
observation deck.
Below the clock
which now shows 12:25
and is shooting.
He's shooting our direction.
- There was a lot
of suffering,
and we were helpless
to do anything about it.
[sirens wailing]
- I see all of this blood.
And I think...
"I didn't get a chance
to say good-bye
to my mom and dad,
or anything."
[soft piano music]
The ambulance driver
got a call.
Right around the corner,
there was another person
that they wanted him
to pick up.
Looking out that window,
it was just a direct shot.
And of course I'm thinking,
"If we don't
get out of here quick,
"I'm gonna get shot again."
- He knocked a boy
off a bicycle.
He shot windows
out of the Texas Union.
[gunshots]
More ambulances
are screaming
up and down
the University drag,
and the ambulances
are apparently carrying
those persons
who we had reported
as lying on the sidewalk
shot in front
of the Varsity Theater
and other buildings along
the University drag.
The University area
has been cordoned off
and so far we've had reports
of people being shuttled
to the hospital via ambulances
from practically all
the funeral homes in the city.
- I didn't know at the time,
but I was losing
a lot of blood.
I felt like I was melting.
[panting]
The heat was just deadly.
The pavement was so hot
that it was burning
the backs of my legs.
- There was a bunch of students,
and I just hollered out--
"Anybody got a rifle?"
Some old boy said he did.
[gunshot]
- Do you wanna?
- Yeah.
I took the rifle first.
But, see,
I've never shot a scope.
I was raised a poor boy,
and .22 the biggest thing
I ever shot.
I was shaking.
And what it was is...
Well, it wasn't
a nervous shake...
It was the wobble.
Yeah, the wobble.
I just couldn't get
the crosshairs
to center in on nothin'.
That boy said he could
and... [chuckles]
Lord knows he had
better eyes than I did.
- We were in Parlin Hall
when Billy Speed was shot.
[gunshot]
My God, he hit the cop.
- Billy Speed.
[sighs]
[gunshot]
I glanced down
and I saw Billy get hit.
Billy!
- We have a man here, just came
from the base of the Tower.
What's your name please, sir?
- Leland Ammons.
- Better duck down
a little bit here.
You were standing beside
the policeman when he was shot?
- Yes.
- Was there just one shot fired?
- Uh, well, he was--
He opened fire on us
when he saw the,
uh, policeman
with a shotgun converging.
The policeman was walking,
he shot him through
the, uh, support near
the statue of Jefferson Davis.
- The shots came near you
at the time, though?
- Oh, yes.
There were shots all around.
- A couple of students
crept out the back door
and made their way to him.
A girl had taken off her slip
and was using it to try
to stanch the bleeding,
but he was bleeding a lot.
The guy that was with her
had gotten a little tin cup
and had filled it with water.
It was just like
the cowboy movies, right?
- We, uh,
did all we could for him.
But whether he was
still conscious when
they carried him off
in the ambulance, we don't know.
Maybe it could be
a superficial wound.
[gunshot]
- Billy!
- I saw him get hit here.
So I-I thought he was gonna
be all right, you know?
- That was the moment
that separated
the brave people
from the scared people.
I knew that there was no way
that I was going to go
out there and help him.
I didn't wanna get shot.
That was a defining moment
because I realized
I was a coward.
- I met up with Billy
not a couple hours before that.
We just talked
a little while.
Just a good ol' boy
conversation.
- He was gonna quit.
He said...
He was gonna work
a couple more months
and then he was gonna quit
and go back to college.
And that's just what
he was gonna do.
And uh, you know, his wife
just had a baby and everything.
[gunshot]
- If I see someone--
- He asked me. He said...
- Do I shoot him?
- And I said...
[chuckles]
"You shoot
the shit out of him."
[gunshot]
[gunshot]
- Before I got into the Tower,
and this is not too nice,
I took up a position
behind a column
at the Academic Center.
[gunshot]
And I gave him
the I-talian digit.
[gunshot]
He fired once at the column
and hit it.
But he didn't do it again.
I waited until the individual
started firing
on the east side
of the Tower--
[gunshot]
And then ran across the street
into the Tower Building.
[gunshot]
[gunshots]
- You could see the bodies
lying on the campus.
On the Main Mall.
[gunshot]
And we knew then
that there was nothing
that could be done
from that office.
So we were inextricably
drawn closer.
We got up to the statue
of Jefferson Davis.
People say that that statue
should be taken down,
that that statue
has no place being there
because of Jefferson Davis
and all he represents.
But at least on that day,
it gave me a little shelter.
Across from the Main Mall,
there was about
a dozen students
there as well,
all looking
at the bodies laying there.
And it was frustrating,
I guess.
Something has to be done,
but if I go out there?
[gunshot]
I might die.
[camera clicking]
- It was like
a frozen snapshot.
[camera clicks]
Obviously some people
were still alive
and hiding behind
small things.
A couple people
seemed really...dead.
I've never seen a dead body.
I didn't care
if they bombed the Tower.
I just wanted a plane to come
and take that guy out.
- What else did you see as you
came through the campus?
Did you see any other
injured persons?
- There's several people laying
out on the Mall at this time.
Three of them may be shot,
and the others may just
be laying there.
[gunshot]
- A woman was lying
on her back on the Mall,
and she was
obviously pregnant
and in obvious pain.
It was hard to watch her
and to know that no one
could get to her
without being shot
themselves.
- Under the base
of the Tower,
there were a lot
of people there.
And they were yelling.
They were saying,
"We've gotta help
that pregnant woman!"
And then somebody else
yelled out,
"No, we've gotta help the ones
that there is still hope for."
So I thought...
Well...
I probably wasn't
gonna get help.
- Has any effort been made
to try to get those persons out?
[gunshots]
Another shot. He's still firing
repeatedly from
the University Tower.
- I was trying to figure out
what was happening.
I didn't feel pain.
It felt more like
something really heavy
was pressing down on me.
I thought it felt like
an invasion from outer space
because I felt like
I'd been shot
by some kind
of antimatter gun.
It felt like that's
what was happening.
[radio frequencies]
That I was just...dissolving.
[frequencies intensify]
[faint footsteps]
Then at some point
a girl ran up.
- Please he...
- Are you all right?
Let me help you.
- She came up
and kind of knelt over me.
And her hair...
It was red and coming down.
[gunshots]
- Go. Go.
[gunshots]
- Get down.
- What's your name?
- It's Claire.
- Claire?
I'm Rita.
I'm here with you now, okay?
- Her name was Rita.
[gunshot]
- I tried to call
the store and my wife.
[busy signal]
[sighs]
The lines were busy.
I saw Officer Day.
He was alone.
[indistinct chatter]
I went up to him
and I offered my help to him.
- Let's go this way.
- All right.
- As it went on, I moved
forward a little bit more.
Kind of inching around,
getting a little bit
different viewpoint,
that sorta thing,
as we kept broadcasting.
[gunshots]
I think it's
kind of a natural instinct.
"Hey, I gotta get closer.
I gotta see what's going on."
We are not sure that the police
are returning the fire,
but we do hear the shots
and we do...
But I wasn't, believe me...
[gunshot]
I wasn't trying to put myself
in harm's way.
Under the clock
on the south side
of the University
of Texas Tower,
and police
are returning the fire.
[gunshot]
- I saw this airplane.
circling the tower.
It was a single-engine
small airplane.
But the drafts
of the heat and the wind,
the airplane just couldn't get
a steady shot of the sniper.
The Austin Police Department,
they didn't have weapons
that would reach
from the ground
to the top of the Tower.
[gunshot]
- It was like a war.
There were gunshots
coming from everywhere.
- At one point,
I saw a civilian
carrying a deer rifle
coming from behind me
and running toward the Tower.
- I don't know where
these vigilantes came from,
but Parlin Hall was filled
with civilians with huge guns
and they began to shoot back.
There was massive testosterone.
- This was an average citizen
who heard my report
on the radio
and decided to come help.
We didn't know it at the time,
but what was happening
was my radio broadcast...
The feeds were made
to the radio networks
and to all the other news
outlets around the country.
- At approximately 12:15,
the phones at KTBC
began to ring with requests
for phone reports
to radio stations all over
the North American proper.
Reports were recorded
for radio stations
in Anchorage, Alaska,
Halifax, Nova Scotia,
San Diego, California,
and even from Honolulu, Hawaii.
- Repeating--A sniper
with a high-powered rifle
has taken up a position
on the Tower
at the campus
at the University of Texas.
- To bring you
a special bulletin from KTBC...
- All over the United States,
radio stations were calling in
to get a report
of what's going on in Austin.
- You are looking at
the University of Texas Tower
in Austin live.
There is a sniper
or more than one sniper
located on that ridge
right there under the clock.
One boy was shot while
sitting in the Union
through the window.
Two others have been
reported shot on the drag,
Guadalupe Street.
There are people hiding
behind trees
all over the University
of Texas campus.
Several are pinned down
behind retaining walls
in front of the main building.
People are warned
to stay out
of the University
of Texas area.
This is a live camera,
coming to you
from KLRN Channel 9.
- I really didn't know
what to expect.
- University Tower
observation deck...
Below the--Below the clock,
and is shooting.
He's shooting our direction.
We just saw a puff of smoke,
he's firing again.
It's a battle now.
It's a battle between
the sniper and the police.
- I could hear
all the shooting.
[gunshots]
[sirens wailing]
Hear the sirens.
I knew it was a disaster,
so to speak,
because the only ones
with sirens were ambulances.
[gunshot]
- I saw Officer Martinez
there at 21st Street.
Martinez!
Hey, Officer!
And I hollered out to him,
but he didn't hear me.
[gunshot]
- I tried to keep myself
from being able
to see the top of the Tower
because I knew if I could see
the top of the Tower,
the sniper could see me.
I ran until I got
to the South Mall
by the Jefferson Davis
statue.
[gunshot]
[gunshot]
There were wounded people...
and dead people,
people whose conditions
I did not know,
lying there on the sidewalk.
[gunshot]
[gunshots]
There was a pregnant woman
that was twisting
and wilting
in the hot sun.
My training in the army
had taught me
you establish a command post
right away.
Then your organize
an assault team.
[gunshot]
I thought maybe I could
go into the Tower
and assist the people
that were going there.
[gunshots]
My mission was to get
into the Tower.
- Don't worry.
- We're gonna be okay.
[gunshots]
- I'm tired.
- Yeah, it won't be
much longer now.
Don't worry.
- We lay there
and just talked...
[gunshot]
Which was kind of wonderful
because it kept me conscious.
And I don't know
what would've happened
had I been unconscious.
- Where did--Where did you go
to high school, Claire?
- I think we tried to talk
about who I was
and who Tom was.
- Claire, what classes...
What classes are you
taking this semester?
- I'm taking anthropology...
With Tom.
- Tell me about Tom.
- Tom Eckman.
I met Tom Eckman,
Thomas Frederick Eckman,
when I was beginning
the sixth month of my pregnancy.
- Yellow is the color
- And I was visibly,
noticeably pregnant.
- In the morning
- He was trying to figure out
whether I was pregnant
or just chubby.
- When we rise
- I thought
he was beautiful.
- That's the time
- That's the time
- That's the time
- That's the time
- He was kind of amazing
and wonderful.
I don't know,
we were just...in love.
You know, just really, totally
connected to each other.
He just talked to me
about everything.
About his whole life.
- In the morning
- He laughed a lot.
Played the banjo,
which was really cool.
He wanted to be a poet.
- That's the time
- That's the time
- That's the time
- I love the best
- And we were so happy.
We were just really,
really happy.
- Blue is the color
of the sky
- We just
couldn't stay apart,
so he moved in with us.
- In the morning
When we rise
- I don't know,
we just fell in love and...
As it turned out,
we decided
to register
for anthropology together.
- Claire, can you hear me?
Just breathe.
Stay with me, Claire.
Hey.
Can you hear me?
Stay with me, Claire.
Claire?
- Yeah?
- Can you hear me?
- Yeah.
- Yeah. That's a good girl.
[gunshot]
[busy signal]
You're okay.
[gunshot]
- I picked up the phone
and dialed the first number.
I got a busy signal
because everything
was jammed.
I just needed
to get upstairs
and find out
what the game plan was.
[elevator moving]
Oh, my God. I'm heartily sorry
for having offended thee.
I detest all my sins because
of thy just punishment,
most of all because
they offend thee.
My God, you are all good
and deserving of all my love.
I firmly resolve
with the help of thy grace
to sin no more and to avoid
the near occasions of sin.
[elevator stopping]
[elevator dings]
[all sigh]
- What's going on, Jerry?
- Hell, I don't know.
- It's good you're here.
- 90s, I need a unit
to meet the UT police
at the Security Building.
- Yeah, this is McCoy.
Go ahead.
- We need a unit to go
to the UT Security Building
and they'll go with him
to the 27th floor.
- Uh, okay, you said
the campus security booth?
- I'm meeting other officers?
- 25 to statewide.
- 10-4, I'm headed
that way now.
Here comes Connor,
Shoquist, Sheppard, and Moe,
and they had teargas guns.
And I asked Phillip. I said,
"Did you bring any shotguns?"
And he said no.
Wished he had.
- Claire? Claire?
Can you hear me still?
Look at me, Claire.
Look at me.
- She made sure
to keep me talking
so I wouldn't lose
consciousness.
- Don't worry.
We're gonna be okay.
- But it was getting harder
and harder for me to answer.
- Stay with me.
[gunshot]
Claire, just look at me.
- But she was persistent.
She kept asking me questions.
- It's okay, Claire.
- It was beautiful.
[gunshot]
A selfless act.
- I know it hurts,
but just hold on
a little longer.
[gunshot]
- You know,
the sun was directly overhead.
[gunshots]
I was dressed in all black,
like an idiot.
And I suddenly began
to feel dizzy.
Nauseous.
I was sick to my stomach,
and I was losing
my coordination.
She was so, so pregnant.
I could see her move.
I knew she was shot and hurt.
I crawled underneath
the hedges into the shade,
where it's a lot cooler
and quieter.
- It was endless waiting.
Endless terror.
[gunshot]
Disappointment
and hopelessness
that you're not able to do
anything to make it stop
or to help the people
that are suffering.
- Every 15 minutes...
[Tower bell rings]
The bell would ring from
the top of the UT Tower.
And I'd think,
"That's 15 more minutes.
"15 more minutes they were out
there on that hot concrete."
[gunshot]
- I think...
I just wanted
to close my eyes.
I tried not to move.
- Stay still.
It'll be okay, all right?
- I tried to just
act like I was dead
so he wouldn't
shoot me again.
The concrete was so hot
that at some point
I just decided,
"I can't take it anymore."
[gunshot]
- When I came out
from under those hedges,
I knew something
had to be done.
Someone had to go out there
and get 'em.
- I just remember
looking up at the sky.
It was so blue.
And just thinking...
"I guess this is it.
- "I guess this is the end."
- That's when I decided
to go out there.
And we had to move fast.
We knew that.
You can see
there was a camera.
Time moved strangely.
Slowly.
I grabbed Claire's feet.
James grabbed Claire's arms.
- Tom!
[crying]
Tom!
- I've never been more scared.
- [laughing]
I've never been more scared.
And we ran 'em off.
We ran her into safety
to behind the hedge
and set her down.
And other people took her
where the ambulances were.
[gunshot]
There's a...
There's a cold spot
that I can feel
on my back right now.
And when I think about it,
it's about the size of a grape.
It's all the w--
Halfway up my spine.
It's halfway
between my shoulder blades.
And it's the place
I expected
the bullet to come in...
If I was hit.
As I went down the stairs,
the glasses slowly--
I was sweating like a pig.
The glasses slowly
came off my face.
Everything was turning
into a complete blur for me
without those glasses
and I couldn't see a thing.
I had to go back out,
out from cover again,
to pick up my glasses.
Her boyfriend...
He was--He was also
carried off.
- One of those who
was out of breath now after
running out onto the mall
rescuing those who'd been shot
is Brehan Ellison of Austin,
who's been in Vietnam
and has been back
for two years.
Brehan, how many have you
gone out to rescue?
- Today, two.
- What did you have to do?
- Run hard and keep low.
- Did you have any trouble
getting them up
or did any shots come close
to you while you were out there?
- No shots came close to me.
Just the last one, he was dead.
He was dead weight.
He was a little hard to pick up.
Too limp, not like someone
who's knocked out.
- How many have you seen
that are dead today?
- Just one.
I hope not any more.
[gunshots]
- I knew what I had to do.
Knowing I had to walk up those
stairs was a lonely feeling.
- Where you going?
- Up.
- I'm going with you.
- When we reached
the first landing
I could see the face
of a young boy.
- Good Lord.
- His eyes were open
and he was dead.
I quickly turned around
the corner
and I saw a young woman,
a dead young woman,
lying at his feet.
And there was another woman
lying there,
and we...we turned her
on her side
to keep her from drowning
in her own blood.
There was a young man
that was wounded.
Slumped against the wall,
still conscious.
- The boy that was at
the foot of the stairs saw us.
And Martinez and I asked him
how many people
were shooting.
[clears throat]
And he replied, "One."
- He said, "He's outside."
[gunshot]
And he pointed upstairs.
[gunshots]
- So we playing for keeps?
- Damn right we are.
- I guess you better
deputize me, then.
- I looked at him and...
I thought he was an officer
from some other agency.
Consider yourself deputized.
All right, ready?
- I'll cover you.
We worked our way
into the room...
And found a woman lying
on her back behind the sofa.
- Gotta keep going.
[gunshots]
The shooting outside sounded
just like rolling thunder.
[gunshots]
You got me?
- I got you.
Martinez went to the door
and he had trouble
getting the door open.
- Well, time's passing,
but...
You don't feel like
time's passing.
Do you understand that?
[gunshots]
- Let's go.
You need to cover that corner.
If anyone comes around there,
you shoot 'em.
[gunshots]
[gentle piano music]
[Debussy's "Clair de Lune"]
- I'm going to cover
this corner.
Your fellow officer
went down this way.
- Crum said,
"Are you going to go out
and help
your fellow officer?"
Guess I--Guess I ain't
got much choice now, do I?
- I turned and saw an officer
I knew, Houston McCoy.
All I had was my .38,
so that--that shotgun
looked pretty beautiful
at that moment.
Get down.
[gunshot]
- The other two officers
went this way.
I'll cover you.
- Got it.
- A picture came to my mind.
My boys and my wife.
And immediately
it went out of my mind.
I didn't have a fear
of being killed,
I really didn't.
- There was no time
to think about fear.
Now, I'd be a fool
or I'd be a liar
if I were to say
I was not scared.
I was scared.
But you put that behind you.
You cannot have fear in front
of you and do your job.
- I just knew
that I wasn't going to allow
anybody to make me dead.
- I heard the subject
running on the walkway.
I fired one round
in an attempt to stop him.
- What the hell?
- I'm sorry!
I heard him run
the other direction.
- It's going to take longer
to tell you
than it did to do it.
- I emptied my gun.
- There was some firing,
and then it was all over.
[gunshots]
- By the time
I had emptied my pistol...
- By the time
I had emptied my pistol...
- McCoy fired.
- McCoy was pretty close--
I grabbed that shotgun
from McCoy and I shot him
one more time
as he was hitting the ground.
After that was done,
my knees felt like rubber.
I felt like I had been hit
by a sledgehammer.
I mean all my energy left me.
And I was shaking. Rounds,
bullets were still coming up.
And I said I had enough
and I left.
- The campus,
for all practical purposes,
has been cleared.
Police got to the Tower,
and are keeping
all the persons
in the University Tower,
and the main police
are coming out
and walking across the campus.
The University area
has been cordoned off.
- I waved my handkerchief
to stop the firing
from down on the ground.
[gunshots continue]
- Once that flag waved,
I knew it was over then.
It was bam-bam-bam-bam.
It was just...
'Cause we had--
You had dozens of gunmen
firing at the Tower
from all directions.
And they slowly stopped.
- Ladies and gentlemen,
we have this word
just into the newsroom.
The sniper has been seen
waving a white flag
on the west side
of the building.
According to reports
just into our newsroom,
the sniper has been seen
waving a white flag
on the west side
of the building.
This is Neal Spelce
with a bulletin
from the KTBC Radio newsroom.
The sniper is dead.
This is Neal Spelce
with a bulletin
from the KTBC Radio newsroom.
The sniper is dead.
The firing has now stopped,
and the time is 1:23.
[radio shuts off]
When I said, "The sniper
is dead," it was like...
- It was like a big...
[exhales]
Sigh of relief.
The sirens all of a sudden
started getting silent.
The bullets stopped.
And it was quiet.
- Someone waved a flag.
And...I walked around.
There was blood everywhere.
People just surged
out of the building.
- We all walked up the steps.
It seems like
we filled the mall.
- It was a few people at first,
and then dozens,
and then hundreds.
- I don't remember anyone
being articulate
about what had happened.
You know,
just shock and awe.
Kind of a blankness.
- They looked like
they were mesmerized.
They-they weren't
hugging each other.
They weren't talking
to each other.
Most of them were
just kind of milling,
walking around,
as if dazed and wondering,
"What in the world
has happened to my world?"
[camera clicking]
- They didn't know the names
of the people who had died.
And we didn't know
what had happened
until later that day.
It was a sad time,
a very sad time.
Not only for the people
who lost
or were losing
their loved ones,
but for the whole campus,
the whole town, and the state.
- It was not something
you would expect
from our beautiful Tower.
- I just sat there
and watched people gather.
It was something
that I had been a part of
for an hour and a half.
It was done for me.
[sirens wailing]
- The Travis County
Blood Bank
has asked
to please come immediately.
There is an urgent need
for these types of blood--
Type O-positive,
Type O-negative,
Type A-positive.
- I was begging them
not to cut off my dress
because it was
the first day I'd worn it.
It was my first
and only maternity dress.
It was very beautiful.
Tom had helped me pick it out.
- My dad was working downtown
in a shoe-repair shop,
and then somebody
came up to him
and asked him
if he knew what was going on.
My dad said no.
And the guy said,
"Well, there's been
a lot of shooting going on."
- He said, "Yeah, there's
a lot of shooting going on.
"And, oh, by the way,
your son has been shot
and he was killed."
He went home, picked up my mom,
and the two of 'em
rushed over to the hospital.
He-he did not want
to believe that...
until it was something
that he-he could...
that could be confirmed.
Whereas my mother
was responding...
I guess like a mother.
My parents didn't find out for
several hours that I was okay.
- It's a madhouse here
at Brackenridge Hospital.
At least 17 persons are here
undergoing treatment.
We have had unconfirmed reports
that two persons have died.
We have a list of the names.
These names were
just given to us
by the hospital
administrator.
The victims have been
identified as Oscar Royuela,
Billy Speed, Robert Boyer,
Paul Sonntag,
Roy Schmidt, Billy Snowden--
- Joe, hold it.
Hold just a minute.
This is Paul
over at the newsroom.
What was that list of names
again, please?
- One of the people
who came rushing
into our newsroom
to help out was Paul Bolton.
He had gone
into semi-retirement
and I had taken over
his position
as the television
news director.
Paul was working there
in the newsroom
when Joe read
the list of names.
And Paul reacted dramatically
at that point.
- Roy Schmidt, Billy Snowden--
- Joe, hold it.
Hold just a minute.
This is Paul
over at the newsroom.
Everyone is interested
in that list of names.
I think you have
my grandson on there.
Go over that list
of names again, please.
- [sniffling]
"I think you have my..."
[sniffles]
"I think you have
my grandson.
I think you have my grandson
on that list."
Uh...
And Joe said,
"Okay. Okay, I'll do that."
And he went through the--
The list again.
And, yeah, it was his namesake
grandson, Paul Bolton Sonntag.
Didn't know at the time
if he'd been killed,
but he was.
Frankly,
I just broke up now.
I think it's...
[laughs]
I think it's because
I have grandchildren.
- I was in intensive care
for seven weeks.
Rita came to see me
when I was in the hospital.
- How are you feeling?
- I'm...[clears throat]
I'm, uh...
I'm doing better now.
- I made you something.
It's nothing much.
I just...
- She came and brought me
a painting she had done.
I was just, you know,
incredibly touched
by her bringing that
and, um...I think
that's the only time
we saw each other after that.
Only recently I've realized...
How really, amazingly
brave that was of her.
- Are you all right?
Let me help you.
We've heard from all sorts
of people involved in this
how terrified they were.
And yet she came
right up to me.
I mean,
that was very selfless.
Why did you do that,
you know?
What gave you the courage
to come out and do that?
And were you afraid?
Were you afraid that
you were going to get killed?
- For a person
to be so giving,
has to go lay down
on hot concrete
on a 100 degree day.
- Somehow, you know,
that situation
just pulled out
that hero in her.
- There's a special place
in Heaven for people like that.
She's a wonderful woman.
[office bustling]
- As our various reporters
and photographers
were bringing the film
back for processing,
we were getting their stories
and their information.
As we got a fuller picture
of where the damage was
and looked at the film,
it was even more horrifying...
Than you could imagine.
- KTBC Television News
now presents
a special program
on today's mass murder
in the capital city.
Here is KTBC Television
News Editor, Neal Spelce.
- Good evening.
One of history's
worst mass-murders occurred
here in Austin today.
By official count tonight,
49 persons were hit by gunfire.
There are 16 dead
and 33 injured.
It started last night,
when a man reportedly
killed his wife
and his mother.
That same man apparently
rounded up an arsenal
and supplies this morning
and then went
to the observation deck of
the University of Texas Tower.
It was then that terror
rained down from the Tower.
[gunfire]
Charles J. Whitman
was shot down
on the observation deck
by two city policemen.
The policemen were aided
by an Austin man, Allen Crum.
The story of how they ended
the 90 minutes of terror
was told this afternoon
at a news conference
held by Austin Police Chief
Bob Miles.
- Did you guys shoot
as soon as you saw him?
- Did anybody ask him
to surrender
or give up or anything
before all the firing started?
- No. As I said
just a moment ago,
Mr. Crum fired one shot
into the west wall
When Officer Martinez
looked around the corner,
Mr. Whitman had his gun
leveled out and ready to shoot.
Officer Martinez had no way
of knowing whether Officer Day
or Mr. Crum
had already come out
and were in a position
to be shot.
- At the news conference,
of course it was McCoy,
Jerry Day,
Allen Crum, and myself.
- If you don't mind,
I'll do the talking
for the group.
And no. No.
And if I'm wrong,
Mr. Martinez can stop me
and, uh, correct me on it.
- The reporters
asked questions
and Chief Miles answered
all the questions.
We were just there for
show and tell, so to speak,
because he handled it.
- The man here beside me
is Allen Crum.
He was deputized
to go up on the Tower
with the two policemen
who ended the gun battle.
- You got me?
- I got you.
- Mr. Crum, could you
tell us how you happened
to be in the Tower building
in the first place?
- Well I, uh...
[clears throat]
Became involved in this
when I looked out
of the Co-Op window and saw
a boy shot across the street.
I went across the street
to investigate
because I thought
it was a small fight.
And as I stepped out the door,
I heard the sound of shots.
- And you actually
went into the Tower?
- Yes, sir. I couldn't
get back across the street
because of my fear
that I might get shot myself.
So I went to the next building,
and the next building.
I thought perhaps I could help
them when I got over there
so I waited 'till he shot
from the other side of the Tower
and then ran into it myself.
- Mr. Crum,
I know that I speak
for all the citizens
of Austin in expressing
our gratitude to you
and to the Austin
police officers
who put an end
to the reign of terror
on the University
of Texas campus.
- I've never known
braver men.
Their decisions
were correct,
timely done,
and accomplished in an honorable
manner.
If I had to do this
over again with these men,
I certainly would.
The Chief of Police
offered me a check
from the City of Austin
for one day's
deputized citizen's pay.
I refused it, of course.
- Somehow, we ended up
out on Airport Boulevard
in a vacant lot
with a case of Lone Star beer.
Took off our weapons,
still dressed in our blues
and everything like that but...
We wasn't policemen no more.
If I would have just gone in,
if I had just gone
right up to that elevator,
pressed that button
to the top floor...
Gone in and get him done.
- Go up and get him done,
then Billy Speed
would still be alive.
- Billy!
- And a lot of other,
I'm sure, but...
But-but-but...
didn't happen that way.
- [sighs]
Shoulda-coulda.
[chuckles]
But I didn't.
- Shoulda, coulda. Shoulda...
Shoulda, coulda.
But didn't.
So...I don't know.
- Well, to say it hasn't
affected me in my life,
it wouldn't be
a truthful statement.
But I have, um...
tried.
I have tried
to just forget it.
I hate to see people
get hurt.
But, you know,
you have to be realistic
and know that these things
are gonna happen.
And so you have to have the way
how to cope with it,
how to take care
of the problems.
- If somebody were
to ask how you feel,
well...
Well, I'd say no words.
It's something--
I've been asked that before,
How-how did it
make you feel?
And then I kinda
have to say, "Well...
"How would I describe
the colors of a rainbow
to a person born blind?"
You can't,
'cause there ain't no words.
Uh, I don't know.
- This is the shirt
that I was wearing.
And I must've weighed
about 90 pounds when...
When this shooting happened.
See that little tear
right there?
It's where the bullet
just kinda pew.
[gunshot]
This is my cousin,
Lee Zamora.
He was with me
when I was riding the bicycle
and delivering newspapers at
the University of Texas Tower.
- I was just thinking,
you know,
I've never talked to anyone
about this before.
[gunshot]
[gunshot]
And I thought, you know,
maybe it'll help me,
you know, do some good
to sit and talk about it
to someone, you know, for once.
Maybe it's something
I need to do.
- If you folks had not
given us this opportunity,
I would not have seen
this cousin of mine. I do now.
Been a long time.
I mean, almost 50 years.
- It was just
a whole different world.
Nobody ever talked about it.
- I didn't meet Claire
until, uh, a few months ago.
- I never knew
who Artly was.
I finally decided maybe he was
just an angel or something.
- I was 17.
I'd never seen death.
I didn't know
anything about guns.
It was nothing but a big,
raw, gaping wound,
you know, in my psyche.
In my memory.
There has been
a passage of time, and...
[stuttering]
It's still raw, but it's not
as raw as it once was.
A lotta times,
the worst days
of your lives are...
personal and, uh, private.
Maybe that's why I've...
I sort of...
[stutters]
Um, hid it inside.
I feel guilty because
I didn't go out soon enough.
- Oh, Artly.
- You know, that you were...
- Artly.
[laughs]
- Yeah, it's just--
I think--I think guilt
comes with events like this.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Strange guilt.
UT was closed for one day.
That was it.
They came in
and cleaned up the blood.
I think the university
should put up a memorial.
There's still lots of family
and lots of friends
of people that were
killed and injured.
- Paul Sonntag,
Claudia Rutt,
Robert Boyer,
Billy Speed,
Roy Schmidt,
Edna Townsley,
Marguerite Lamport,
Mark Gabour,
Thomas Eckman,
Harry Walchuk,
Thomas Ashton,
Thomas Karr,
Karen Griffith,
David Gunby,
and my baby.
They said I could have babies,
but I never got pregnant.
But I got to adopt my child.
I adopted my child Sirak.
He was born in Ethiopia
and I adopted him
when he was four.
And he's now 27.
I mean, Sirak
was a wonderful child.
And there are times,
even though
his skin is brown
and mine's white,
there are times when
I absolutely cannot remember
that he didn't
come out of me.
But the baby...
I-I dreamed about him
from the beginning
and I still have dreams
that I found him
and I have him
and I'm so happy.
But then I'd look away
or something and he's gone.
[gunshots]
- I remember looking
at the Tower, of course, a lot.
And from the Main Mall,
you can see
there's a biblical line
from the Bible.
"Ye shall know the truth and
the truth shall make you free."
[gunshot]
I've thought about it.
[sniffles]
One of the truths I learned...
Is that there are monsters
that walk among us.
[sirens wailing]
There are people out there
that think unthinkable thoughts
and then do
unthinkable things.
- Through the years,
he remained
largely kind of wooden
in my mind.
But the longer I've lived
and the more I've seen,
these precious little children
who grow up
and do sometimes
horrible things,
the more I have come
to think of him
as a very confused,
very damaged young man.
He died at about 25.
There's a picture of him
standing at three years old,
holding a rifle on either side
on the beach.
I just think of him when
he was that three-year-old
who would have been sitting
in my lap, you know.
I'm a teacher,
and I love that age.
So much promise
and so much hope.
How can I hate
somebody like that?
I can't hate him,
in spite
of the incredible damage
that he's done.
I can't hate him.
I just can't do that.
- Do you forgive him?
- I forgive him, yes.
How can I not forgive?
I've been forgiven so much.
[slow rock music]
- The horror of these,
the sick among us,
must be found in the horror
of our hyper civilization.
A strange pandering to violence,
a disrespect for life
fostered in part by
governments which,
in pursuit of the doctrine
of self-defense,
teach their youth to kill
and to maim.
A society in which
the most popular
newspaper cartoon strips,
television programs,
and movies are those
that can invent
new means of perpetrating
bodily harm.
A people who somehow
can remain silent
while their own civilization
seems to crumble
under the force of the
caveman's philosophy--
That might makes right.
It seems likely that
Charles Joseph Whitman's crime
was society's crime.
This is Walter Cronkite.
Good night.
[soft rock music]
- Somebody said to me,
"Why would I want
to revisit any of this?
Why would I wanna dig it up?"
That it would be so painful.
It was devastating.
It was devastating.
You know,
I still have that loss.
But what's painful
is to just not have any sense
of the whole thing
and not have other people
that knew about it,
and that could talk
about what happened that day.
That's what was painful.
And so that's been
very healing.
You know,
just the little things
make a huge difference
in a big thing like this.
[soft piano music]
[Debussy's "Clair de Lune"]
[engine turns over]