Professor Shoots Back (in 1966)

In 1966 a shooter positioned himself atop the tower at the University of Texas and started picking people off with a high powered rifle. I can still remember as a 10 year old reading the account of the shootings in LIFE magazine.

Rich Lowry at The Corner got an email from someone who was on the campus during the shooting and relayed a story that would be unbelievable in today's university system:

What happened during the UT Tower shooting in 1966. Now this would be a strange sight on todays campus...a Professor shooting HIS deer rifle out of the class window while another professor was handing him ammunition:

A security officer came into the room saying someone was shooting from the top of the tower. We evacuated the classroom rather quickly. The hallway and basement were the safest places to be but I decided to go up to the top floor offices to get a better idea of what was happening.

None of the professor’s offices were occupied except for one whose door was open. As I walked down the hall toward that office the sound of a large caliber rifle thundered from that open doorway followed by two men talking. After all the bizarre events of the last few minutes it didn’t seem strange to me when I peeked around the office doorway to see one professor shooting a deer rifle at the top of tower while the other fed him ammunition. It never entered my mind to question why an English professor would have his deer rifle in his office complete with boxes of ammunition. This was Texas after all. Guns were commonplace. From the office windows, we could see the top of the tower clearly. Small puffs of smoke were coming from the rifle of the sniper on the observation deck. The large glass faced clock above the observation deck was shattered from others shooting back at him. The professor ran through several boxes of shells before running out of rounds. My ears were ringing….

I don't know what the policy is at UT today, but I'll bet guns are not allowed on campus, even in Texas. There certainly weren't any professors capable of providing a substantial defense at Virginia Tech. Those that did fight back, like the brave 76 year old, had to do so by simply blocking the door so kids could escape, and he paid for his actions with his life.