Charles Whitman, Aug 1, 1966 started it all..I remember,and its become a regular event.

[Stuart G]

First mass campus shooter..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Whitman


Charles Joseph Whitman (June 24, 1941 – August 1, 1966) was an American engineering student at the University of Texas, former U.S. Marine, and a mass murderer who killed 16 people.

In the early morning hours of August 1, 1966, Whitman murdered his wife and mother in their homes. Later that day, he brought a number of guns, including rifles, a shotgun, and handguns, to the campus of the University of Texas at Austin where, over an approximate 90 to 95 minute period, he killed 14 people and wounded 32 others in a mass shooting in and around the Tower. Whitman shot and killed three people inside the university's tower and eleven others after firing 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] Just prior to Whitman’s clock tower massacre, Richard Speck, labeled America's “first mass murderer,” killed eight student nurses in July 1966. The killings represented an unexpected type of urban terror.[5]

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I remember the horror of it. I think sometime after the events of 1968, although I am not sure, certain kinds of guns were made very very difficulty to get. Almost outlawed .. Now, almost anyone can get any kind. When Speck and Whitman became names people knew, We thought, well.. that can't happen again. Guess it can.

[villager]

1. These events used to be "anomalies," rather than "regular recurrences..."

And nobody took anyone seriously -- or put much stock in their sanity -- if they talked about the need for "more guns" after these events...

[Stuart G]

2. You are correct, as a society in the U.S.A. we are so much worse than then.

Almost 50 years ago, there was the first, and when will be the last?..

gopiscrap, at this link: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027219809

says this is the 42 school shootings this year???..

[Blue_In_AK]

3. I remember it, too, very, very well.

A guy I was dating at the time had been Charles Whitman's roommate for a while. It was so shocking then, especially coming so soon after Richard Speck.

[Laffy Kat]

8. Didn't he have a brain tumor?

I'm fuzzy on the incident but remember it. The shooter knew something terrible was wrong with him and had been trying to get help. He left a note (I think) pleading for an autopsy. Turns out he had a tumor. ???

[Blue_In_AK]

9. Yes, I believe that's true.

Whatever the case, his friends were completely taken by surprise.

[hifiguy]

4. I was a kid but I remember it.

Very interesting fact - Whitman's autopsy showed that he was suffering from a significant brain tumor that may have pushed him into a psychotic state by affecting his amygdala.

http://brainmind.com/Case5.html

[Spider Jerusalem]

5. Hardly the first mass shooter, though

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Unruh

Howard Barton Unruh (January 21, 1921 – October 19, 2009) was an American mass murderer (sometimes classified as a spree killer) who killed 13 people (including three children) during a 12-minute walk through his neighborhood on September 6, 1949, in Camden, New Jersey, when he was 28 years old. He died in 2009 after a lengthy illness at the age of 88. The incident became known as the "Walk of Death".

[Wilms]

10. PTSD?

Sad.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

6. Whitman gained notoriety and that's what the others crave as well.

[Stuart G]

7. Notoriety? They are making a movie about H.H.Holmes...Mass Murder at 1893s World Fair in Chicago.

Will others want this kind of notoriety?...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._H._Holmes

Herman Webster Mudgett (May 16, 1861 – May 7, 1896), better known under the name of Dr. Henry Howard Holmes or more commonly just H. H. Holmes, was one of the first documented serial killers in the modern sense of the term, and is widely considered to be "America's First Serial Killer".[1][2] In Chicago at the time of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, Holmes opened a hotel which he had designed and built for himself specifically with murder in mind, and which was the location of many of his murders. While he confessed to 27 murders, of which nine were confirmed, his actual body count could be over 200.[3] He brought an unknown number of his victims to his World's Fair Hotel, located about 3 miles (4.8 km) west of the fair, which was held in Jackson Park. Besides being a serial killer, H. H. Holmes was also a successful con artist and a bigamist.

OH, you don't believe that?. Will that start something?....here is a link on the movie...

http://variety.com/2015/film/news/leonardo-dicaprio-martin-scorsese-reunite-for-devil-in-the-white-city-1201567113/