Charles Whitman

This article is about the tower sniper. For the politician, see Charles S. Whitman.

Charles Joseph Whitman
File:Whitman1963Yearbook.jpg
Born	(1941-06-24)June 24, 1941 Lake Worth, Florida, USA
Died	August 1, 1966(1966-08-01) (aged 25) Austin, Texas, USA
Cause of death	Gunshot injury
Education	Engineering Student
Known for	University of Texas at Austin tower sniper

Charles Joseph Whitman (June 24, 1941 – August 1, 1966) was a student at the University of Texas at Austin who killed 14 people and wounded 31 others as part of a shooting rampage from the observation deck of the University's 32-story administrative building on August 1, 1966. He did this shortly after murdering his wife and mother. He was eventually shot and killed by Austin police.

An autopsy was performed as requested in Whitman's suicide note and approved by Charles Adolf Whitman (his father), and performed by Dr. Chenar. Initially the tumor was reported as an Astrocytoma brain tumor. Whitman, in the note, wanted to have the examination to help prevent future tragedies as the one he was about commit. Governor John Connally had a task force commission assembled that included Neurologists and other Psychiatric professionals who re-examined Dr. Chenar's findings and found that Dr. Chenar had mis-diagnosed his findings. The commission found that Whitman had been suffering from a Glioblastoma, a highly cancerous and deadly tumor. This has led to speculation that the tumor may have been contributory to his rampage.

In the 1960s, persons diagnosed with Glioblastoma had an expected prognosis of dying from the tumor within one year. Symptoms of the tumor are headaches and nausea, which Whitman had complained of to friends, family and the University of Texas Health Center.

Background

File:Whitman as a child.jpg

A widely released image, of Charles Whitman on a family vacation holding two rifles.

The eldest of three brothers raised on South L Street in Lake Worth, Florida, Whitman, who had scored 138 on an IQ test at the age of 6, attended St. Ann's High School in West Palm Beach, where he was a pitcher on the school's baseball team. He also took five years of piano lessons, and enjoyed playing with toy guns.

All three brothers served as altar boys at Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church, and Whitman chose the Confirmation name Joseph for himself. As a 12-year-old, he was among the youngest ever to achieve Eagle Scout and one of the first in Lake Worth to do so, to his father's delight. When Whitman was 14 and still serving as an altar boy, his Scout leader Joseph Leduc completed seminary and served as the priest of Sacred Heart for a month. Leduc, later a confidant of Whitman, was a family friend who had accompanied Whitman and his father on several hunting trips. At the age of 16, Whitman underwent a routine appendectomy and was hospitalized following a motorcycle accident.

File:Whitman-marriage.jpg

The wedding of Kathy Leissner and Charles Whitman

Against his father's wishes, Whitman joined the Marines on July 6, 1959. He explained to Fr. Leduc that he had come home drunk several weeks earlier and his father had hit him repeatedly and pushed him into the family's swimming pool. While Whitman was aboard a train headed towards Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, his father telephoned "some branch of Federal Government" to have his son's enlistment cancelled, but was rebuffed.

Following his enlistment, Whitman was accepted into the University of Texas' mechanical engineering program on September 15, 1961 through a USMC scholarship. His hobbies at this point included karate, scuba diving, and hunting. This last hobby got him into trouble at the University, when he was involved in a "teenage prank" in which he shot a deer, dragged it to his dormitory, and skinned it in his shower. As a result of both this incident and sub-standard grades, Whitman's scholarship was withdrawn in 1963.

In August 1962, Whitman married Kathleen Frances Leissner, another University of Texas student, in a wedding that was held in Kathy's hometown of Needville, Texas and presided over by Fr. Leduc. The following year, he returned to active duty at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, where he was both promoted to Lance Corporal and involved in an accident in which his Jeep rolled over an embankment. After rescuing his pinned comrade, Whitman was hospitalized for four days. That November, Whitman was court-martialed for gambling, possessing a personal firearm on base, and threatening another Marine over a $30 loan for which Whitman demanded $15 interest. He was sentenced to 30 days of confinement and 90 days of hard labor and was demoted to the rank of Private.

In December 1964, Whitman was honorably discharged from the Marines and returned to the University of Texas, this time enrolling in its architectural engineering program. Now lacking his scholarship, Whitman worked first as a bill collector for Standard Finance Company and later as a bank teller at Austin National Bank. By 1965, he had taken a temporary job with Central Freight Lines and worked as a traffic surveyor for the Texas Highway Department. He also volunteered as a Scoutmaster for Austin Scout Troop 5, while Kathy worked as a biology teacher at Lanier High School.

Family issues

In 1966, Whitman's mother Margaret announced she was obtaining a divorce. Whitman drove to Florida to help his mother move to Austin, Texas, where she found work in a cafeteria. The move prompted his youngest brother John to move out, as well. Meanwhile, his brother Patrick decided to continue living with their father, whose plumbing supply business employed him.

Whitman's father began to telephone Whitman several times a week, pleading with him to convince his mother to give the marriage another try, but Whitman refused.

Shortly afterwards, John was arrested for throwing a rock through a window and released after paying a $25 fine.

Declining health

File:Whitman-diary.jpg

Whitman's daily journal.

In 1966, Whitman discussed his health concerns with one of the University's doctor, Jan Cochrun, who prescribed Valium and recommended he visit campus psychiatrist Maurice Dean Heatly. On March 29, 1966, Whitman met with Heatly and spent an hour explaining his frustration with his parent's separation, past military history, uncontrollable feelings of hostility and his increasing strains at work and school. During the interview, he made a remark about feeling the urge to "start shooting people with a deer rifle" from the University tower. Heatly noted that Whitman was "oozing with hostility", yet never returned. Whitman mentioned the visit with Heatly in his final suicide notes, saying that it was to "no avail". By the summer, Whitman was prescribed Dexedrine.

Although Whitman had been prescribed drugs, the autopsy could not establish if he had consumed any prior to the attacks. Whitman's bodily fluids had been removed and his body embalmed prior to the autopsy, so there was no urine to test for the amphetamines. However, it was revealed during the autopsy that Whitman had a cancerous glioblastoma tumor in the hypothalamus region of his brain. Some have theorized that it may have been pressed against the nearby amygdala, which can have an effect on fright/flight responses. This has led some neurologists to speculate that his medical condition was in some way responsible for the attacks, as well as his personal and social frames of reference.

After the attacks, a study of Whitman's journal revealed that Whitman lamented that he had acted violently towards Kathy, and that he was resolved both not to follow his father's abusive example and to be a good husband. However, John and Fran Morgan, close friends of Whitman's, later told the Texas Department of Public Safety that he had confided in them that he had struck Kathy on three occasions.

Lead-up To The Tower Shootings

File:Whitman-canisters.jpg

Six images from the two rolls of film Whitman asked to be developed. They highlight a trip to Barton Springs and a trip with Kathy and his brother John to the Alamo.

The day before the shootings, Whitman purchased binoculars and a knife from Davis' Hardware, as well as Spam from a 7-Eleven store. He then picked up Kathy from her summer job as a Bell operator, and they went to a matinée before meeting his mother for lunch at her job.

Around 4:00 PM, they went to visit friends John and Fran Morgan, who lived in the same neighborhood. They left at approximately 5:30 so that Kathy could leave for her 6:00-10:00 PM shift that night. At 6:45, Whitman began typing his suicide note, a portion of which read:

I do not quite understand what it is that compels me to type this letter. Perhaps it is to leave some vague reason for the actions I have recently performed. I do not really understand myself these days. I am supposed to be an average reasonable and intelligent young man. However, lately (I cannot recall when it started) I have been a victim of many unusual and irrational thoughts.

The note explained that he had decided to murder both his mother and wife, but made no mention of the coming attacks at the university. He also requested that an autopsy be done after his death, to determine if there had been anything to explain his actions and increasing headaches. He willed any money from his estate to mental health research, saying that he hoped it would prevent others from following his route.

File:Whitman's mother.jpg

Margaret Whitman, as found by police

Just after midnight, he killed his mother Margaret. The exact method is disputed, but it seemed he had rendered her unconscious before stabbing her in the heart. He returned to his suicide note, now writing by hand:

To Whom It May Concern: I have just taken my mother's life. I am very upset over having done it. However, I feel that if there is a heaven she is definitely there now...I am truly sorry...Let there be no doubt in your mind that I loved this woman with all my heart.

Whitman returned to his home at 906 Jewell Street and stabbed Kathy five times as she slept, leaving another note that read:

I imagine it appears that I brutally killed both of my loved ones. I was only trying to do a quick thorough job...If my life insurance policy is valid please pay off my debts...donate the rest anonymously to a mental health foundation. Maybe research can prevent further tragedies of this type.

He wrote notes to each of his brothers and his father and left instructions in the apartment that the two canisters of film he left on the table should be developed, and the puppy Schocie should be given to Kathy's parents.

Tower shootings

Whitman arrives at the Tower

Weapons

12 gauge shotgun

Remington 700 with 4x Leupold Scope

6 millimeter 0.35 Caliber Remington rifle

M1 Carbine

.357 Magnum

Galesi-Brescia pistol

Luger pistol

Nesco machete, scabbard

hatchet

Ammunition box with gun-cleaning kit

Camillus hunting knife, scabbard

Randall knife inscribed with name

Locking pocketknife

1' steel rebar

Hunter's body bag

Whitman's gear

Channel Master 14 transistor radio

Blank Robinson notebook

Black Papermate pen

light green towel

White 3.5 gallon jug full of water

Red 3.5 gallon jug of gasoline

Nylon and cotton ropes, and clothesline

1954 Nabisco premium toy compass

Davis Hardware receipt

Hammer

Canteen

Binoculars

Lighter fluid, lighter and box of matches

Alarm clock manufactured by Gene

Pipe wrench

Green and white flashlight, 4 C batteries

Two rolls of tape

Green duffel bag from the Marine Corps

Extension cord

Grey gloves

Eyeglasses

Earplugs

Mennen spray deodorant

Toilet paper

Food

Twelve cans of food

Two cans of Sego condensed milk

Bread, honey and SPAM (incl. sandwiches)

Planters Peanuts and raisins

Sweet rolls

At 5:45 a.m. on Monday, August 1, 1966, Whitman phoned Kathy's supervisor at Bell to explain that she was sick and could not make her shift that day. He made a similar phone call to Margaret's workplace about five hours later.

Whitman rented a dolly from Austin Rental Company and cashed $250 worth of checks at the bank before returning to Davis' Hardware and purchasing an M1 Carbine, explaining that he wanted to go hunting for wild hogs. He also went to Sears and purchased a shotgun and a green rifle case. After sawing off the shotgun barrel while chatting with postman Chester Arrington, Whitman packed it together with a Remington 700 bolt-action hunting rifle with a 4x Leupold Scope, the M1 Carbine, a 6mm Remington rifle, three pistols, and various other equipment stowed between a wooden crate and his Marine footlocker. Before heading to the tower, he put khaki coveralls on over his shirt and jeans and under a green jacket. Once in the tower, he also donned a white sweatband.

Pushing the rented dolly carrying his equipment, Whitman met security guard Jack Rodman and obtained a parking pass, claiming he had a delivery to make and showing Rodman a card identifying him as a research assistant for the school. He entered the Main Building shortly after 11:30 AM, where he struggled with the elevator until employee Vera Palmer informed him that it had not been powered and turned it on for him. He thanked her and took the elevator to the top floor of the Tower, just beneath the clock face.

Whitman then lugged his trunk up three flights of stairs to the observation deck area, where he found a receptionist named Edna Townsley. He knocked her unconscious with the butt of his rifle and concealed her body behind a couch; she later died from her injuries. Moments later, Cheryl Botts and Don Walden, a young couple who had been sightseeing on the deck, returned to the attendant's area, encountering Whitman, who was holding a rifle in each hand. Botts later claimed that she believed that the large red stain on the floor was varnish, and that Whitman was there to shoot pigeons. Whitman and the young couple exchanged hello's and the couple left for the elevators. When they were gone, Whitman barricaded the stairway.

Shortly afterwards, two families, the Gabours and Lamports, were on their way up the stairs when they encountered the barricade. Michael Gabour was attempting to look beyond the barricade when Whitman fired the sawed-off shotgun at him, hitting him in the left neck and shoulder region, sending him over the staircase railing onto other family members. Whitman continued to shoot as the families tried to run back down the stairs. Mark Gabour and his aunt Marguerite Lamport died almost instantly; Michael and his mother Mary were permanently disabled.

Sniper fire commences

Main Building of The University of Texas at Austin. Guadalupe Street is out of frame to the right. (Dobie Center, in the background, was not constructed until 1972.)

The first shots from the tower's outer deck came at approximately 11:48 a.m. A history professor was the first to phone the Austin Police Department, after seeing several students shot in the South Mall gathering center; many others had dismissed the rifle reports, not realizing there actually was gunfire. Eventually, the shootings caused panic as news spread and, after the situation was understood, all active police officers in Austin were ordered to the campus. Other off-duty officers, Travis County Sheriff's deputies, and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers also converged on the area to assist.

Once Whitman began facing return gunfire from the authorities and civilians who had brought out their personal firearms to assist police, he used the waterspouts on each side of the tower as gun ports, allowing him to continue shooting largely protected from the gunfire below but also greatly limiting his range of targets. Ramiro Martinez, an officer credited with neutralizing Whitman, later stated in his book that the civilian shooters should be credited, as they made it difficult for Whitman to take careful aim without being hit. Police lieutenant and sharpshooter Marion Lee reported from a small airplane that there was only one sniper firing from the parapet. The plane circled the tower trying to get a shot at Whitman, but the turbulence shook the plane too badly for him to get Whitman in his sights. As the airplane took fire, Lee asked the pilot, Jim Boutwell, to back away, but "stay close enough to offer him a target and keep him worried." The airplane, which was hit no less than thirteen times, remained on station until the end of the incident.

Whitman's choice of victims was apparently indiscriminate, and most of them were shot on Guadalupe Street, a major commercial and business district across from the west side of the campus. Efforts to reach the wounded included an armored car and ambulances run by local funeral homes. Ambulance driver Morris Hohmann was responding to victims on West 23rd Street when he was shot in the leg, severing an artery. Another ambulance driver quickly attended to Hohmann, who was then taken about ten blocks south of UT to Brackenridge Hospital and the only local emergency room. The Brackenridge administrator declared an emergency, and medical staff raced there to reinforce the on-duty shifts. Following the shootings, queues at both Brackenridge and the Travis County Blood Bank stretched for blocks as people hurried to donate blood.

Whitman's death

File:Charles Whitman's corpse.png

Whitman's body

Police Officer Conner and DPS Agent Cowan remained inside the University to cover the windows on the southeast and northeast sides of the reception area while Officers Milton Shoquist, Harold Moe and George Shephard attended to the dead and wounded inside the tower, among others.

Meanwhile, Ramiro Martinez, took citizen Allen Crum, who had military experience, up to the observation deck greeting room. Officer's Houston McCoy and Jerry Day followed. While the others were looking to make a plan, Martinez starting banging and kicking the door to the observation deck to try and dislodge a dolly that Whitman had used to barricade the deck. The sounds conceivably were heard by Whitman, as he was prepared for the officers and sat waiting for them in the NW corner with his military M-16 Carbine pointing in the SW direction where he expected them to advance. Also, the radio Whitman brought to the tower was on and tuned to the live broadcast of his seige.

Martinez and McCoy, armed respectively with a .38 revolver and a shotgun, went out on the observation deck, proceeded to the NE corner of the deck, and spotted Whitman seated on the floor of the NW corner.

As Martinez rapidly fired six rounds from his revolver after jumping onto the middle of the deck in a split position on the deck, McCoy jumped to the right of Martinez and fired two shotgun blasts, hitting Whitman between the eyes and left side. Whitman's body slid down the wall he was sitting against. Martinez got up and grabbed the shotgun from McCoy and ran to the body of Whitman, firing point blank into Whitman's upper left arm. Martinez then took the green towel that Whitman had brought with him, and waved it to those below, trying to stop the ground fire that was still coming.

Whitman and his mother shared a funeral service officiated by Fr. Tom Anglim at his home parish of Sacred Heart in Lake Worth. Due to his status as a veteran Marine, Charles had a casket draped with an American flag for his burial in Section 16 of the Hillcrest Memorial Park in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Casualties

Main article: List of Charles Whitman's victims

Killed

• Margaret Whitman, killed in her apartment
• Kathy Whitman, killed while she slept
• Edna Townsley, receptionist
• Marguerite Lamport, killed by shotgun on stairs
• Mark Gabour, killed by shotgun on stairs
• Thomas Eckman, shoulder wound, kneeling over Claire Wilson, died in hospital
• Robert Boyer, back wound, visiting physics professor
• Thomas Ashton, chest wound, Peace Corps trainee
• Thomas Karr, spine wound
• Billy Speed, police officer, shoulder/chest wound
• Harry Walchuk, doctoral student and father of six
• Paul Sonntag, shot through the mouth, age 18, hiding behind construction
• Claudia Rutt, age 18, killed helping fiancé Sonntag
• Roy Schmidt, electrician shot outside his truck
• Karen Griffith, chest wound, age 17, died after week in hospital
• Unborn Child, fatally injured when Claire Wilson was shot in her abdomen
• David Gunby, survived the initial shooting but required life-long dialysis as a result of his injuries. More than 30 years after the shooting, he announced he was quitting dialysis and died within a week.

Wounded

• Allen, John Scott
• Bedford, Billy
• Ehlke, Roland
• Evgenides, Ellen
• Esparza, Avelino
• Foster, F. L.
• Frede, Robert
• Gabour, Mary Frances
• Gabour, Michael
• Garcia, Irma
• Harvey, Nancy

• Heard, Robert
• Hernandez, Alex
• Hohmann, Morris
• Huffman, Devereau
• Kelley, Homar J.
• Khashab, Abdul
• Littlefield, Brenda Gail
• Littlefield, Adrian
• Martinez, Dello
• Martinez, Marina

• Mattson, David
• Ortega, Delores
• Paulos, Janet
• Phillips, Lana
• Rovela, Oscar
• Snowden, Billy
• Stewart, C. A.
• Wilson, Claire (First person shot on campus)
• Wilson, Sandra
• Wheeler, Carla Sue

Aftermath and Historical Damage

Chief Robert "Bob" Miles of the Austin Police Department, had been monitoring the events from his office. After the shootings began, the local media, including todays Austin American Statesman and Associated Press were hounding the Chief for information. Since there was no communication coming from the tower, and only the local media coverage on TV and Radio, the office was having trouble keeping up with the demands of the press to give information it did not have.

Once the confrontation with Whitman and Officer's McCoy and Martinez was over, Martinez ran from the scene past other APD Officer's in the tower yelling "I got him, I got him!", and calling for them to notify the Chief's office. Immediately Officer Harold Moe, who was the only one with a communication radio, responded by notifying the Chief's office that the situation was over, and that Martinez claimed to have killed Whitman. In order to appease the media and get them to stop hounding the office for information, Miles gave a news release that the seige was over and that Martinez was the officer who ended it. This premature releasing of incorrect information, was the genesis for the interdepartmental problems between Officer McCoy and Officer Martinez. Martinez never disputed the information, in light of the fact that the other officers did. The riff continues to this day.Chief Miles, several years later, would recant the account and correct the information to say that McCoy had actually killed Whitman.

File:Whitman-Chronicle.jpg

Extra Houston Chronicle, released within two hours of the shooting.

Austin American Statesman writers like Brenda Bell, and author's like Gary Lavergne, and other major TV publications, like A&E , continue to report the Tower Tragedy as the largest Mass Murder in American History as of August 1, 1966. The fact is that Andrew Kehoe of Bath, Michigan in 1927 was worse.

The event dominated the national and international news that day.

Together with the Watts riots of the early 1960s, Charles Whitman's shootings were considered the impetus for establishing SWAT teams and other task forces to deal with situations beyond normal police procedures. It also led President Lyndon B. Johnson to call for stricter gun control policies.

After the shooting, the Tower's observation deck was closed for two years, reopening in 1968. However, after several suicides, it was closed again in 1974 and remained closed until September 15, 1999. Access to the tower is now tightly controlled through guided tours that are scheduled by appointment only, during which metal detectors and other security measures are in place. Repaired scars from bullets are still visible on the limestone walls.

Houston McCoy was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder in 1998 by Dr. Mink of the Department of Veterans Affairs in Waco, Texas, who attributed the condition to the tower shooting three decades earlier. As of 2007, he is living in western Texas. Ramiro Martinez became a narcotics investigator, a Texas Ranger, and a Justice of the Peace in New Braunfels, Texas. In 2003, Martinez published his memoirs, entitled, They Call Me Ranger Ray: From the UT Tower Sniper to Corruption in South Texas.

On November 12, 2001, David Gunby died of long-term kidney complications from a wound he received while on the South Mall. He had been born with only one functioning kidney, and it was nearly destroyed by Whitman's shot. Facing the prospect of losing his eyesight in 2001, he refused further treatment and died shortly thereafter. The Tarrant County Coroner's report listed the cause of death as "homicide."

There is still ongoing controversy and speculation that not all the relevant facts about Whitman have been revealed. His surviving victims and witnesses to the shooting continue to write about their recollections of that day and their ongoing physical and psychological trauma.

August 1, 2008 "Heroes Tower Building Dedication"

On the 42nd Anniversary of the tragedy, the following names were added to a Precinct Building in Austin, Texas and dedicated to the principal heroes who helped stop Whitman on August 1, 1966. These are the names on the Plaque, it is recognized that the list is incomplete of all the heroes that day, this list represents the individuals who were within the tower and directly affected the outcome.

• Officer Billy Paul Speed, the only peace officer slain Aug. 1, 1966. Jennie Speed Shone, widow.

• Officer Phillip Conner of Austin, ex-Army medic administered first aid and covered the west window while officers went onto the observation deck. Phillip Conner Jr., son.

• Officer Jerry Day of Universal City, moved a wounded victim out of the line of fire and went to the top of the tower alone.

• Lt. Marion Lee, the gunner in the airplane piloted by Jim Boutwell. An Austin Police Department representative.

• Officer Ramiro Martinez of New Braunfels, made his way onto the tower deck and was the first to spot and fire upon the sniper.

• Officer Houston McCoy of Menard, fired the fatal shots into the Whitman, thereby ending the UT Tower tragedy.

• Officer Harold Moe of Marble Falls, was instrumental in saving the lives of two gunshot victims and used the only portable two-way radio to notify police that the siege was over.

• Officer George Shepard, was instrumental in saving the lives of two gunshot victims. Vicky Shepard, widow.

• Officer Milton Shoquist of Fair Oaks Ranch, was instrumental in saving the lives of two gunshot victims.

• Department of Public Safety Agent W.A. “Dub” Cowan, made his way to the top of the tower and was instrumental in setting up communications and removing people from harm’s way on the 27th floor. Kay Cowan, daughter.

• Civilian Jim Boutwell, volunteered his airplane and piloted it slowly above the tower to gather information and to help subdue the sniper. Louise Boutwell, widow.

• Civilian Allen Crum, first-floor supervisor of UT Co-op, made his way atop the UT Tower and, with Agent Cowan’s weapon, assisted Officer Martinez and backed up Officer Day on the south side of the observation deck. Brian Jewell of the Co-op.

• Civilian Frank Holder, elevator mechanic for Otis Elevator Co., led officers up the tower and assisted them in negotiating the stairs leading to the observation deck. Danny Holder and/or Frank Holder Jr., son.

• Civilian William Wilcox, engineer for UT Physical Plant, led officers through the underground tunnels to safely enter the tower building, assist the wounded and subdue the sniper. John Wilcox, son.

References in popular culture

File:WhitmanTimeCover.jpg

Time magazine.

File:WhitmanLifeTexasSniper.jpg

Life magazine.

Though many are unaware of the exact details surrounding the event, Whitman's tower spree has remained at the forefront of public consciousness, as evidenced by many references in popular music, literature, film, and TV.

• 1966 — A photograph of Whitman appears on the August 12 cover of Time, highlighting an article entitled "The Psychotic & Society."
• 1966 — Life devoted its cover photograph to Whitman for an article entitled: "The Texas Sniper."
• 1968 — The poem "Dream Song 135" in John Berryman's His Toy, His Dream, His Rest references Whitman, the murder of his wife and mother, and the clock tower shootings.
• 1968 — Peter Bogdanovich releases the film Targets, largely inspired by the Whitman case; it features a man murdering his mother and wife, then embarking on a sniper spree.
• 1972 — Harry Chapin records an album entitled, Sniper and Other Love Songs. "Sniper," the album's title song, was recorded from both first and third-person points of view, referencing Whitman's issues with his mother and highlighting his isolation.
• 1973 — Texas singer Kinky Friedman records "The Ballad of Charles Whitman," a satirical tune, on the album Sold American. Friedman attended the University of Texas and graduated in 1966, a few months prior to the shooting.
• 1974 - The movie The Groove Tube is released. It, along with 1977's American Raspberrycontain The Charles Whitman Invitational sketch.
• 1975 — The made-for-TV film The Deadly Tower written by William Douglas Lansford stars Kurt Russell as Whitman. Officer Ramiro Martinez later sued the producers for its portrayal of him and his wife; Officer Houston McCoy also sued. Martinez settled out of court, but McCoy received no settlement.
• 1987 — The movie Full Metal Jacket contains a scene in which a USMC drill instructor tells his recruits that Whitman's phenomenal accuracy was a result of his training as a rifleman in the Marines.
• 1989 - The movie Parenthood alludes to the incident when Steve Martin has a flash-forward, imagining his son as a college student shooting from the roof of a bell tower with a rifle.
• 1991 — In the movie Slacker, filmed on location in Austin, the Old Anarchist (Louis Mackey) proclaims, "Now Charles Whitman, there was a man...!"
• 1992 — Social critic Bill Hicks would allude to the incident in response to Pro-Life protesters by mimicking a manic chant: "Where's the tower? Where's the gun? Where's the tower? Where's the gun? I was adopted by Pro-Life Christians when I was a kid!".
• 1993 — The movie True Romance references Whitman in the hotel scene with the drug collector and Alabama Worley by way of the line, "You know that guy in Texas...."
• 1993 — Macabre includes a song about Whitman called "Sniper in the Sky" on the album Sinister Slaughter.
• 1994 — In the movie Natural Born Killers, Detective Scagnetti tells Warden McClusky that he hunts serial killers because, as a boy in Texas, he was holding his mother's hand when one of the bullets fatally wounded her.
• 1994 — A scene on an episode of The Simpsons entitled "Homer Loves Flanders" features a scene where Ned Flanders has a dream where he is Whitman and kills Homer from the tower.
• 1994 - Teen thriller book, The Midnight Club by Christopher Pike, is a tale of terminally ill teens who tell each other scary stories every night, and one is a story of a frustrated, murderous sniper who kills strangers from a tower, resembling the act committed by Charles Whitman.
• 1995 - The ending of John Singleton's film Higher Learning was inspired by the Whitman murders.
• 1996 — Whitman features prominently in an episode of American Justice entitled, "Mass Murderer: An American Tragedy."
• 1996 — The movie The Delicate Art of the Rifle features a character based on Charles Whitman and tells of a clock tower shooting from the shooter's point of view.
• 1997 — On the television program Murder One, attorney Arnold Spivak (J. C. MacKenzie) notes the difference between a serial killer and a mass murderer by invoking the Whitman massacre in some level of detail; the reference is prompted by his firm's defense of Clifford Banks, a serial killer played by Pruitt Taylor Vince.
• 1998 — The book Cat & Mouse by James Patterson, contains numerous references to (fictional) killer Gary Soneji, including his fantasies of being with Whitman in the bell tower.
• 1998 - Japanese doom metal band Church of Misery recorded a song about Whitman, called "Road To Ruin (Charles Whitman)".
• 2001 — Dateline NBC broadcasts a special on the tower shooting called "Catastrophe." The same year, Fox's World's Wildest Police Videos shows a brief clip of the shooting in a segment about the history of SWAT teams.
• 2002 — In the CSI: Miami episode "Kill Zone" Calleigh Duquesne mentions Whitman's 14 kills in reference to the skill of snipers.
• 2006 - On Tom Waits Album Orphans Whitman is mentioned in "Down There By The Train". Not the Johnny Cash version.[1]
• 2006 — In the manga Black Lagoon, Dutch likens Revy's homicidal tendencies to those of "Charles fucking Whitman".
• 2007 — On their album The Tempest, rap duo Insane Clown Posse tell their take of Whitman on the track "The Tower".
• The director's commentary for Texas Chainsaw Massacre mentions that during filming, the crew were approached by a sheriff who objected to their blocking off a road, and informed them he had been the officer shooting at Whitman from the plane.

Further reading

• Clarke, James W. (1990). On Being Mad or Merely Angry: John W. Hinckley, Jr. and Other Dangerous People. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0691078521
• Douglas, John; Olshaker, Mark (1999). The Anatomy of Motive. Scribner. ISBN 0-7567-5292-2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Lavergne, Gary M. (1997). A Sniper in the Tower. University of North Texas Press. ISBN 1-57441-029-6.
• Levin, Jack; Fox, James Alan (1985). Mass Murder: America's Growing Menace. New York: Plenum Press. ISBN 0-306-41943-2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Martinez, Ramiro (2005). They Call Me Ranger Ray: From the UT Tower Sniper to Corruption in South Texas. New Braunfels: Rio Bravo Publishing. ISBN 0976016206.
• O'Brien, Bill (2000). Agents of Mayhem. Auckland: Bateman, Ltd. ISBN 1-86953-423-9.
• Rich, Frank (September 29, 1999). "The Long Shadow of the Texas Sniper". New York Times. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
• Tobias, Ronald (1981). They Shoot to Kill: A Psycho-History of Criminal Sniping. Boulder, Colorado: Paladin Press. ISBN 0-87364-207-4.

External links

• Charles Whitman: The Texas Tower Sniper from the Court TV Crime Library. circa 2000
• Charles Whitman from the Handbook of Texas Online
• The Whitman Archives of the Austin Statesman
• Charles Whitman Research Guide from the Austin History Center