A sniper in the Tower : the Charles Whitman murders

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The Resource A sniper in the Tower : the Charles Whitman murders

Summary: On August 1, 1966, Charles Joseph Whitman ascended the University of Texas Tower and committed what was then the largest simultaneous mass murder in American history. He gunned down forty-five people inside and around the Tower before he was killed by two Austin police officers. During the previous evening he had killed his wife and mother, bringing the total to sixteen people dead and at least thirty-one wounded. The murders spawned debates over issues which still plague America today: domestic violence, child abuse, drug abuse, military indoctrination, gun control, the insanity defense, and the delicate balance between civil liberties and public safety. This volume provides an analysis of Whitman (1941-1966), an American engineering student and former U.S. Marine, as Lavergne attempts to answer the question "why?" with a historical analysis of the event. Using primary sources and photographs, Lavergne details the significant events in Whitman's life that led to the massacre, and also details the life of Whitman, his relationships with his friends, mother and father, brothers and wife. He writes about the victims and where and what they were doing when they were gunned down. Lavergne describes how civilians used their own guns to shoot back at Whitman and how an air attack from a helicopter was unsuccessful in gunning down the killer, but how Austin police were finally able to end the massacre by sneaking up to the Tower and catching Whitman off guard

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Context of A sniper in the Tower : the Charles Whitman murders