August 1, 1966. The University of Texas at Austin campus becomes a scene of unimaginable horror when Charles Whitman opens fire from the UT Tower. This video is the feed that went out from the Johnsons’ television station KTBC, at that time the only TV station in Austin. 

What happened that day, from the Handbook of Texas Online article by Alwyn Barr:

“During the pre-dawn hours of August 1, 1966, Whitman killed his mother in her apartment and his wife at their residence.  Later in the morning he bought a variety of ammunition and a shotgun; about 11:30 A.M. he went to the university tower, taking with him a footlocker, six guns, knives, food, and water.  After clubbing the receptionist (who later died) on the twenty-eighth floor about 11:45 A.M., he killed two persons and wounded two others who were coming up the stairs from the twenty-seventh floor.  On the observation deck of the tower, at an elevation of 231 feet, Whitman then opened fire on persons crossing the campus and on nearby streets, killing ten more people and wounding thirty-one more (one of whom died a week later).  Police arrived and returned his fire, while other policemen worked their way into the tower.  Several of the dead and wounded were moved to cover by students and other citizens while the firing continued.  At 1:24 P.M. police and a deputized private citizen reached the observation deck, where police officers Ramiro Martinez and Houston McCoy shot and killed Whitman.  Altogether, seventeen persons were killed, including Whitman, and thirty-one were wounded in one of the worst mass murders in modern United States history.  An autopsy on Whitman’s body revealed a brain tumor, but medical authorities disagreed over its effect on Whitman’s actions.  His body was returned to Lake Worth, Florida, for burial.”

Video from the Neil Spelce Collection at the Texas Archive of the Moving Image. Lots of primary and secondary resources on Whitman and the shootings, including police case files, photographs, newspaper articles, and oral history interviews, are available at the Austin History Center.