Charles Joseph Whitman (June 24, 1941 – August 1, 1966) was an American engineering student and former U.S. Marine, who killed 16 people and wounded 32 others in a spree shooting in and around the Tower of the University of Texas in Austin on the afternoon of August 1, 1966. Three people were shot and killed inside the university’s tower and eleven others were murdered after Whitman fired at random from the 28th-floor observation deck of the Main Building. Whitman was shot and killed by Austin police officer Houston McCoy.[1][2][3][4][5]
Prior to the shootings at the University of Texas, Whitman had murdered both his wife and mother in Austin. The shooting would remain the deadliest shooting on a U.S. college campus until the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007.
