Did armed citizens slow first responders during the 1966 UT sniper attack?
Moderators: carlson1, Charles L. Cotton
Did armed citizens slow first responders during the 1966 UT sniper attack?
I remember seeing this claim in an article last spring. That's the first time I recall anyone suggesting that the armed citizens who returned fire actually made things worse.
http://concealedcampus.org/2015/10/arme ... er-attack/
http://concealedcampus.org/2015/10/arme ... er-attack/
Re: Did armed citizens slow first responders during the 1966 UT sniper attack?
You can't help but feel for the lady but that is revisionist history seemingly without any basis in fact.
-
- Senior Member
- Posts in topic: 1
- Posts: 2985
- Joined: Sat Mar 31, 2007 9:39 pm
- Location: Western Texas
Re: Did armed citizens slow first responders during the 1966 UT sniper attack?
The answer to the topic of the OP is: No, in fact an armed citizen (A pharmacist IIRC) went up the tower with law enforcement to stop him.
How do you explain a dog named Sauer without first telling the story of a Puppy named Sig?
R.I.P. Sig, 08/21/2019 - 11/18/2019
R.I.P. Sig, 08/21/2019 - 11/18/2019
Re: Did armed citizens slow first responders during the 1966 UT sniper attack?
Did she provide any details how the armed citizens allegedly slowed police response to her rescue?
First time I have heard this.
dlh
First time I have heard this.
dlh
Please know and follow the rules of firearms safety.
-
- Senior Member
- Posts in topic: 1
- Posts: 681
- Joined: Sun May 23, 2010 5:02 pm
- Location: Pflugerville
Re: Did armed citizens slow first responders during the 1966 UT sniper attack?
The deer rifles made him cover. They stopped him from shooting freely. They saved lives.
TSRA Life Memeber
-
- Senior Member
- Posts in topic: 1
- Posts: 1335
- Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2015 1:17 pm
Re: Did armed citizens slow first responders during the 1966 UT sniper attack?
Allen Crum, a manager at the UT Co-op. The UT Police of the day weren't armed, and I don't think had radios. There were probably only a couple of them for the campus.G.A. Heath wrote:The answer to the topic of the OP is: No, in fact an armed citizen (A pharmacist IIRC) went up the tower with law enforcement to stop him.
Simpler times. After midnight, there were two Austin patrol cars on the street most nights. One north of the river, one south.
-
- Senior Member
- Posts in topic: 1
- Posts: 1396
- Joined: Mon Jan 24, 2011 12:03 am
- Location: Sugar Land, TX
Re: Did armed citizens slow first responders during the 1966 UT sniper attack?
While I sympathize with the victim over her injuries and the death of her fetus, it was not law abiding citizens who shot her; it was law-abiding citizens who risked themselves to aid outgunned police. I have to believe that even today a citizen who concealed carried might help an officer in need. I'd like to think so, that we would have his back as citizens in that long ago decade did.
DPS Received Forms- 1/18/11 Online Status - 1/27/11 My Mailbox - 2/12/11
NRA Life Member
NRA Life Member
-
- Site Admin
- Posts in topic: 1
- Posts: 17787
- Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2004 9:31 pm
- Location: Friendswood, TX
- Contact:
Re: Did armed citizens slow first responders during the 1966 UT sniper attack?
I was 16 when Whitman climbed the tower and started his rampage. As you can imagine, it was all over the TV and radio news. Austin police and the DPS credited citizens returning fire as having reduced the number of casualties. Without them, Whitman would have had more time to kill.
The anti-gunners don't feel the least bit constrained by the truth.
Chas.
The anti-gunners don't feel the least bit constrained by the truth.
Chas.
-
- Senior Member
- Posts in topic: 2
- Posts: 3081
- Joined: Mon May 30, 2011 4:11 pm
- Location: Comal County
Re: Did armed citizens slow first responders during the 1966 UT sniper attack?
Crum showed the cops the way into the Tower under ground so they wouldn't be exposed to the sniper, according to one account. The "deer rifles" were impotent as far as hitting Whitman who was in the best sniper perch imaginable, but did distract him enough to keep casualties down and let the officers get up there in position to take Whitman out.
Martinez gave a lengthy interview about this, "Interview with Ramiro "Ray" Martinez, Texas Ranger retired. You can google it.
I was a student at UT 64-68, but not on campus that summer. Many friends were.
Martinez gave a lengthy interview about this, "Interview with Ramiro "Ray" Martinez, Texas Ranger retired. You can google it.
I was a student at UT 64-68, but not on campus that summer. Many friends were.
Luckily, I have enough willpower to control the driving ambition that rages within me.
-
- Senior Member
- Posts in topic: 1
- Posts: 1436
- Joined: Tue Feb 12, 2008 4:31 pm
- Location: SW Fort Worth
Re: Did armed citizens slow first responders during the 1966 UT sniper attack?
"The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant, it's just that they know so much that isn't so." - Ronald Reagan, 1964
30.06 signs only make criminals and terrorists safer.
NRA, LTC, School Safety, Armed Security, & Body Guard Instructor
30.06 signs only make criminals and terrorists safer.
NRA, LTC, School Safety, Armed Security, & Body Guard Instructor
-
- Banned
- Posts in topic: 2
- Posts: 1748
- Joined: Tue Oct 20, 2009 1:38 pm
- Location: South Texas
Re: Did armed citizens slow first responders during the 1966 UT sniper attack?
We need to point out the lies of the anti-gunners every chance we get and don’t be afraid to call a lie a lie. If the article has a comments section, we need to post there, if not try to post something about it somewhere else.Charles L. Cotton wrote:I was 16 when Whitman climbed the tower and started his rampage. As you can imagine, it was all over the TV and radio news. Austin police and the DPS credited citizens returning fire as having reduced the number of casualties. Without them, Whitman would have had more time to kill.
The anti-gunners don't feel the least bit constrained by the truth.
Chas.
If we can do this often enough their lies will cease to work for them and start working against them. Wouldn’t it be great if people stopped believing everything negative printed about guns, even if one particular article had some truth to it?

God Bless America, and please hurry.
When I was young I knew all the answers. When I got older I started to realize I just hadn’t quite understood the questions.-Me
When I was young I knew all the answers. When I got older I started to realize I just hadn’t quite understood the questions.-Me
Re: Did armed citizens slow first responders during the 1966 UT sniper attack?
I was 11 at the time. However, I remeber the TV commentators crediting the public with their deer rifles keeping Whitman at bay.
-
- Senior Member
- Posts in topic: 2
- Posts: 3081
- Joined: Mon May 30, 2011 4:11 pm
- Location: Comal County
Re: Did armed citizens slow first responders during the 1966 UT sniper attack?
A couple of points.VoiceofReason wrote:We need to point out the lies of the anti-gunners every chance we get and don’t be afraid to call a lie a lie. If the article has a comments section, we need to post there, if not try to post something about it somewhere else.Charles L. Cotton wrote:I was 16 when Whitman climbed the tower and started his rampage. As you can imagine, it was all over the TV and radio news. Austin police and the DPS credited citizens returning fire as having reduced the number of casualties. Without them, Whitman would have had more time to kill.
The anti-gunners don't feel the least bit constrained by the truth.
Chas.
If we can do this often enough their lies will cease to work for them and start working against them. Wouldn’t it be great if people stopped believing everything negative printed about guns, even if one particular article had some truth to it?
1. This article is from those supporting campus carry, pointing out the anomalies in this witness's claims.
2. The claim that the shooters on the ground impeded and slowed rescue is preposterous on its face. The witness was wounded while Whitman was free to roam around unimpeded. Once the shooters started returning fire,he had to be more guarded, keep his head down. Shooting up at the tower didn't endanger rescuers.
3. She is a victim, not an expert. Other than that, she has no particular insight into the situation, any more than one of the shooters, except being a victim clothes one in a protective shield, absolved of all sin, and imbued with wisdom and truth in liberal orthodoxy.
Luckily, I have enough willpower to control the driving ambition that rages within me.
-
- Banned
- Posts in topic: 2
- Posts: 1748
- Joined: Tue Oct 20, 2009 1:38 pm
- Location: South Texas
Re: Did armed citizens slow first responders during the 1966 UT sniper attack?
Well written.JALLEN wrote:A couple of points.VoiceofReason wrote:We need to point out the lies of the anti-gunners every chance we get and don’t be afraid to call a lie a lie. If the article has a comments section, we need to post there, if not try to post something about it somewhere else.Charles L. Cotton wrote:I was 16 when Whitman climbed the tower and started his rampage. As you can imagine, it was all over the TV and radio news. Austin police and the DPS credited citizens returning fire as having reduced the number of casualties. Without them, Whitman would have had more time to kill.
The anti-gunners don't feel the least bit constrained by the truth.
Chas.
If we can do this often enough their lies will cease to work for them and start working against them. Wouldn’t it be great if people stopped believing everything negative printed about guns, even if one particular article had some truth to it?
1. This article is from those supporting campus carry, pointing out the anomalies in this witness's claims.
2. The claim that the shooters on the ground impeded and slowed rescue is preposterous on its face. The witness was wounded while Whitman was free to roam around unimpeded. Once the shooters started returning fire,he had to be more guarded, keep his head down. Shooting up at the tower didn't endanger rescuers.
3. She is a victim, not an expert. Other than that, she has no particular insight into the situation, any more than one of the shooters, except being a victim clothes one in a protective shield, absolved of all sin, and imbued with wisdom and truth in liberal orthodoxy.
God Bless America, and please hurry.
When I was young I knew all the answers. When I got older I started to realize I just hadn’t quite understood the questions.-Me
When I was young I knew all the answers. When I got older I started to realize I just hadn’t quite understood the questions.-Me
Re: Did armed citizens slow first responders during the 1966 UT sniper attack?
This: partly written by Charles Richards (My Cousin, a News Reporter at that time, who was there that day)
Here's the legendary H.D. "Doc" Quigg's report on the 1966 Texas Tower shooting (with reporting assistance from Kyle Thompson, Charles Richards, James T. Young, David Weissler and John Drollinger:
http://www.assaultweb.net/forums/archiv ... 37473.html
View Full Version : Doc Quigg's 1966 Report on Texas Tower Shooting
http://www.downhold.org/lowry/doc.html
http://www.assaultweb.net/forums/showth ... p?t=137473
Also, this article, partly written by Charles Richards, doesn't answer your question, but is interesting
https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid= ... 1627&hl=en
=================
And I HATE using Wikipedia as a source... but
here it is for whatever value it has (little)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Whitman
Here's the legendary H.D. "Doc" Quigg's report on the 1966 Texas Tower shooting (with reporting assistance from Kyle Thompson, Charles Richards, James T. Young, David Weissler and John Drollinger:
http://www.assaultweb.net/forums/archiv ... 37473.html
View Full Version : Doc Quigg's 1966 Report on Texas Tower Shooting
http://www.downhold.org/lowry/doc.html
http://www.assaultweb.net/forums/showth ... p?t=137473
Also, this article, partly written by Charles Richards, doesn't answer your question, but is interesting
https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid= ... 1627&hl=en
=================
And I HATE using Wikipedia as a source... but
here it is for whatever value it has (little)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Whitman