11/17/2023 0 Comments Bell tower shootingHowever, some acquaintances noted a morbid aspect to Whitman's personality. To his fellow students at the University of Texas, Whitman was regarded as an amiable and promising student with a penchant for practical jokes. Two years later, in September 1961, : 19 Whitman enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin, where he studied mechanical engineering via a scholarship approved and funded by the Naval Enlisted Science Education Program. Whitman's initial military service was exemplary, and he earned a sharpshooter's badge and the Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal while stationed in Cuba. Three days after his birthday, without his father's knowledge, Whitman enlisted in the United States Marine Corps he was deployed to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, on July 6. Upon returning home, his father became enraged at his son's drunken state severely beating his son before throwing him into the family swimming pool. Weeks later, to celebrate his graduation and upcoming eighteenth birthday, Whitman and several friends drank themselves into a state of intoxication. Ann's High School in West Palm Beach, where he graduated seventh out of a class of 72 students. In June 1959, Whitman finished his schooling at St. : 42 : 6 With his parents' encouragement, Whitman became a Boy Scout at age eleven he attained the rank of Eagle Scout three months after his twelfth birthday, reportedly the youngest ever individual to earn this rank at the time. His academic achievements were encouraged by both his parents, and any indication of failure or a lethargic attitude were met with physical and/or emotional discipline from his father. Whitman has been described as a polite and extremely intelligent child-an examination at the age of six revealed his IQ to be 139. ![]() One neighbor of the Whitmans, Judi Faulch, would later state she was unable to recollect the sheer number of times her own parents had called police in the 1940s and '50s in response to Whitman's father beating his wife, children, and family pets. He willingly provided for his family and strove for their betterment but also demanded subservience and near perfection from all of them. The marriage of Whitman's parents was marred by domestic violence Whitman's father was an admitted authoritarian known to be physically and emotionally abusive towards his wife and children. 1919) had been abandoned as a child and raised in a boys' orphanage in Savannah, Georgia, and described himself as a self-made man who ran a successful plumbing business, in which his wife worked as a bookkeeper. Main article: Charles Whitman Whitman at age twoĬharles Joseph Whitman was born on June 24, 1941, in Lake Worth, Florida, the eldest of three sons born to Margaret Elizabeth ( née Hodges) and Charles Adolphus Whitman Jr. It remained the deadliest school shooting in American history until being surpassed 41 years later by the Virginia Tech shooting. history, being surpassed 18 years later by the San Ysidro McDonald's massacre. : 54 Īt the time, the University of Texas tower shooting was the deadliest mass shooting by a lone gunman in U.S. Nonetheless, some experts believe this tumor may have contributed to the violent impulses which Whitman had been exhibiting for several years prior to the massacre. Prior to arriving at the University of Texas, Whitman had stabbed his mother and wife to death-in part to spare both women "the embarrassment" he believed his actions would cause to them.Īlthough Whitman's autopsy revealed a pecan-sized tumor in the white matter above his amygdala, the tumor was not connected to any sensory nerves. He shot and killed 15 people, including an unborn child, and injured 31 others before he was killed by two Austin Police Department officers approximately 96 minutes after first opening fire from the observation deck. The perpetrator, 25-year-old Marine veteran Charles Whitman, indiscriminately fired at members of the public both within the Main Building tower and from the tower's observation deck. The University of Texas tower shooting was an act of mass murder which occurred on August 1, 1966, at the University of Texas at Austin. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |