1966 University of Texas Tower shooting

On August 1, 1966, Charles Whitman carried out a mass shooting from the observation deck of the University of Texas Main Building (the UT Tower), killing 16 people and wounding 31 in one of the earliest widely publicized mass sniper attacks from an elevated position in the United States. Whitman had earlier that day killed his mother and his wife; he was later killed by law enforcement officers who reached the tower. The attack prompted changes in police tactics, campus security, and public access to the tower, which was closed to the public for many years afterward. Some researchers have debated whether a brain tumor found at autopsy may have affected Whitman's behavior, but that link remains disputed.