On Aug. 1, 1966, the University of Texas and the city of Austin experienced its darkest day.
On that hot summer day, a 25-year-old student and former Marine by the name of Charles Whitman went to the top of the UT Tower and began shooting. Forty-five people were shot, and 13 of them died that day. At the time, it was the worst mass murder in U.S. history.
Starting Monday, News 8 Austin explores what happened with a five-part series that culminates to an hour-long special that will begin airing Sunday, July 30.
And this week on newsstands, Texas Monthly's cover story examines that day.
News 8 Austin’s Paul Brown sat down with Texas Monthly senior editor Pamela Colloff for a preview of their coverage.
Q: Pamela, how did you approach your unique coverage of the anniversary of the Tower shooting?
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UT's darkest day
Watch the interview with Pamela Colloff.
 
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A: This is probably the most famous crime that’s happened in Austin history, and much of it has been covered in terms of the chronology of what happened. I was interested in hearing the voices of the people who were there. This was a crime that had hundreds of eyewitnesses, which is very unusual. Most of them had never been interviewed, and I wanted to hear their stories. This was put together in an oral history format so that we could hear people’s voices who were there.
Q: How many people did you find to interview?
A: There are almost 40 people in the piece. The list I began with was almost twice that, but it was difficult to track down a lot of people after 40 years. So this is really the tip of the iceberg but there’s a lot of fascinating material in there that people haven’t heard or read before.
Q: Did you find your interviewees remember all the details of their experience?
A: They fell into two groups. Some people had told these stories over and over again – some of the easier stories in the piece. Other people had never spoken since that day about what had happened because it was such a difficult day. They watched friends or loved ones die or be injured in front of them. So for many of them it was a very emotional experience. There were some tears in the interview and I think that comes across in the story.
Q: What struck you as you spoke to all these people?
A: I was really struck by just how different Austin was. Forty years ago doesn’t seem like that long ago. But there was no EMS, there was no team that the police could send out to try to deal with Whitman, and there was just an innocence in this town. That’s what it was then. Nine-eleven hadn’t happened yet, Columbine hadn’t happened yet … This was the first mass murder in a public space outside of wartime. This was an introduction to people to some of the terrible things that have come in the years that followed.
