Today, a masked gunman opened fire with an AK on the UT Austin campus. No one seems to be hurt, but he fled into the library and offed himself. Not to poke too much fun at what could have been a tragedy, but....... Charles Whitman did a whole lot better with a bolt action back in the day. It seems our standards of marksmanship are slipping. He was probably a damned Aggie!
FQ13
Home > The Blotter > Archives > 2010 > September > 28 > Entry
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ShareUT campus given all-clear after Tuesday morning shooting
Tuesday, September 28, 2010, 12:44 PM
Update 12:30: During a press conference, police officials said the shooter appears to have been a UT student, but positive identification will come from the medical examiner’s office.
Officials do not believe there is a second gunman on campus.
The university remains closed for the day, and the Perry-Castaneda Library is being secured with a barricaded perimeter as a crime scene for the remainder of the day.
Police Chief Art Acevedo said a preliminary investigation shows that the gunman fired four rounds with what appears to be an AK-47 near the Littlefield Fountain. With students pointing the way, officers chased the shooter who ran into the library and up the stairs to the sixth floor. That’s where he appeared to have shot himself, Acevedo said.
No students or law-enforcement officials were shot, Acevedo said, and he said no officers fired at the gunman.
Two students were treated for minor injuries, including a sprained ankle, that appeared to have happened while evacuating, UT Police Chief Robert Dahlstrom said.
Acevedo said he anticipates the UT campus will be open as normal Wednesday morning.
Update 11:50: UT officials said the campus has been given the all clear and that people in some campus buildings are being allowed to leave.
Police are still searching for a second subject and determining whether he is on campus, police Cpt. Scott Perry said.
Officials have tightened the perimeter around the campus, but UT spokeswoman Rhonda Weldon didn’t have details other than to say it was around the Perry-Castaneda Library.
UT posted the following announcement on its website about noon:
“Due to the events of today, the campus is closed. Unless you are needed for essential operations, all faculty, staff and students are urged to leave campus. Students who live on campus with the exception of Jester, San Jacinto, Prather, Roberts, Brackenridge and Moore Hill, may return to their residence halls.”
Although police tape remains up, students can be seen walking around the campus.
Shuttle buses are available to transport students off campus, officials said.
For the past hour, officers have been examining shell casings on the ground near the Sugar Shack barbecue stand in a parking lot just east of Whitis Street on the south side of 21st.
Update 11 a.m.:Authorities said in a news conference shortly before 11 a.m. that they are working to eliminate the possibility of a second suspect. They were concerned about the threat of a second suspect based on differing descriptions.
“We will work all those leads through,” UT Police Chief Robert Dahlstrom said.
Officials said SWAT officers are involved in that search and that dogs trained to sniff explosives also are participating as a precaution.
We don’t have any motive at this time, Dahlstrom said.
Dahlstrom said the gunman killed himself in in the Perry-Castaneda Library, and that shots were fired at a second location. Witnesses said they saw the gunman shooting near the Littlefiled Fountain at 21st Street and University Avenue.
UT President Bill Powers said a toll-free number has been established for people wanting information about the incident: (866) 657-9400.
Austin police spokesman Cpl. Scott Perry said police expect to open the northern end of campus in about an hour.
The scene inside Calhoun Hall on UT campus
Earlier: A gunman who fired several shots on the University of Texas campus in the Perry-Castaneda Library is dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, and police are looking for a possible second suspect, officials say.
Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo confirmed that the shooter is dead, but UT continues to be closed and locked down, and people are urged to stay out of the area. Classes are canceled for the day, officials said in an e-mail alert.
Officials say it appears there are no other injuries. UT spokeswoman Rhonda Weldon said witnesses had reported that the man was armed with an automatic weapon. Acevedo said an AK-47 has been recovered.
“The shooter is dead on the sixth floor of Perry-Castaneda Library, said Don Hale, a UT spokesman. “No identification. Apparently took his own life.”
“We don’t have any report of anybody getting shot at this point,” Hale said. Officials at University Medical Center Brackenridge have said they have not received any patients.
“It’s not clear yet” if there is a second suspect, Hale said shortly after 9 a.m., adding that the university’s advice to stay indoors and keep doors locked remains in force.
Police officials raised the possibility of a second gunman because they had received different descriptions of the gunman by witnesses.
It was unclear how many shots were fired, but witnesses described eight to 10 shots in short bursts.
There were numerous reports that the gunman was wearing a black ski mask.
KVUE talked to UT student Andrew McWaters who said he saw the shooter near Dobie Mall and heard four gunshots followed by two more. He said the gunman was wearing a black ski mask, smiling and waving the gun.
Click here to read eye-witness accounts of the shooting
The area around 21st Street and Speedway is aswarm with law enforcement, SWAT vehicles, two heliopters circling overhead, officers from Austin Police, UT and the Department of Public Safety. A battering ram was also seen.
Hale said university officials at 8:23 a.m. alerted students, faculty members and staff members by text message, outdoor loudspeakers and an online posting to stay indoors.
“That seems to be working pretty well,” Hale said of that advice.
Meanwhile, 50 to 75 students ignored the lockdown, standing outside Jester Hall taking pictures with their cell phones or calling or texting their parents.
A second e-mail alert from UT officials said: “Armed subject last seen at Perry Casteneda Library and UTC. Shelter in place. UTPD responding.”
All organized classes for today are canceled, and the campus remains closed, an alert from UT officials said.
Emergency sirens began going off about 8:30 a.m.
Click here to see more photos from the scene
Alicia Dietrich, public affairs assistant with the Harry Ransom Center, which is down the street from the library, said she heard the shots as she was parking her bike.
“I didn’t even know for sure that it was gunshots,” Dietrich said at 8:47 a.m. “The sirens went off about five to 10 minutes ago. The building has been locked down and I don’t think they’re letting anybody in or out.”
Kevin Olsen, a graduate student at the University of Texas, said he was walking by the Dobie dorm about 8:15 a.m. when he heard about eight to 10 shots in short bursts. He said other people walking to class also heard shots and were looking around “kind of in awe.”
A UT facilities worker told KLBJ-AM that he heard at least 10 gunshots but saw nobody get hit.
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Topic: UT Shooter, they don't make them like they used to. (Read 3194 times)