Suicidal student's 4 shots terrorize UT campus

chron.com ^ | 28 Sept 2010 | R.G. RATCLIFFE and GARY SCHARRER

[smokingfrog]

Colton Joshua Tooley, 19, dressed himself Tuesday morning in a button-down white shirt, a dark suit coat, a ski mask and an AK-47.

Tooley then terrorized the University of Texas campus for more than 30 minutes by firing four shots into the air before running into the Perry- Castañeda Library, dashing up a stairwell screaming, and taking his own life with his rifle on the sixth floor.

The shooting caused a campus lockdown as differing witness descriptions prompted a search for a second shooter. Helicopters circled overhead. Classes were canceled for the day. And when police finally allowed people to leave campus, the students had to do so with their hands in the air.

Tooley was a sophomore majoring in math with no known history of trouble. The son of a local veterinarian, he graduated seventh in a class of 318 at Austin's Crockett High School in 2009. Tooley's family said they never suspected anything like this might happen.

The horror felt on campus Tuesday was reminiscent of Charles Whitman's murderous 1966 shooting rampage from the UT clock tower that left 14 dead and 32 wounded before police killed him.

Tooley created the fear without the body count.

Tina Kay Trevino, 24, was walking to her job at Jester Center on 21st Street minutes after 8 a.m. when she heard several shots. She turned and saw a man running toward her from the direction of a water fountain with a gun in his hand. Her father, Oscar Trevino, said she told him that all that was visible on the man, since he was wearing a ski mask, were his eyes and lips.

Trevino ran to a nearby building and fell down a stairwell, injuring her ankle and knee, her father said. The gunman ran by, heading toward the library.

[smokingfrog]

"He was pretty amped up. Maybe he had an adrenaline high from carrying his assault rifle around," he said, adding that the man waved the gun at them "like a tip of the hat."

Yeah. Happens to me all the time when I'm playing with my toys.

I bet he was taking some kind of antidepressant or something.

After years of antidepressants being associated with increased suicide risks and aggressive behavior, we may finally know why.

[skr]

It just figures that a gun was considered the catalyst when a drug or alcohol was far more likely to have “amped” him up.

[GeronL]

does the media really call every long gun an AK-47?

It seems like a shooting in LA the perp had one too. weird

[Tagurit]

At least he saved the TAX PAYERS a butt-load of money!

[300winmag]

does the media really call every long gun an AK-47?

yes

[GeronL]

lol.

I knew that was coming

[FreedomPoster]

Nicely done - you beat me to it. Love that graphic, such a simple work of genius.

[spodefly]

"If he was depressed, you would never know it because he never usually expressed his emotions."

Public school educated Ritalin baby goes haywire in a liberal "gun free zone". Don't forget to blame the gun.

[T-Bird45]

... Don't forget to blame the gun.

^^^^ As taught in the second week of Journalism 101 at UT...

[tickmeister]

4 shots in the air terrorized the campus? Seems to me these people terrorize awfully easy.

[expat_panama]

"...these people terrorize awfully easy."

Remember that the architectural centerpiece of the campus is the tower whose top floor was a student lounge.  That was until a sniper took it over and killed a few dozen people, and the reason he killed so many was the slow reaction time of the police in putting a lid on things. 

My daughter missed classes that day because all students got a cel text telling them to stay away, and I'm glad.

[Timocrat]

Public school educated Ritalin baby goes haywire in a liberal "gun free zone".

That's my bet also. The legacy of putting a generation of buys on that stuff is going to haunt us for a long time. The psychiatric profession has a lot to answer for.

[Gilbo_3]

when police finally allowed people to leave campus, the students had to do so with their hands in the air.

what wrong with this picture ???

create a defenseless mindset and killzone, the only thing that can 'help' is to further victimize the popultion...

[leilani]

Remember that the architectural centerpiece of the campus is the tower whose top floor was a student lounge. That was until a sniper took it over and killed a few dozen people, and the reason he killed so many was the slow reaction time of the police in putting a lid on things. My daughter missed classes that day because all students got a cel text telling them to stay away, and I'm glad

Hmmm. Are you talking about the Charles Whitman massacre? That's the only major shooting I'm aware of at UT. (Not counting suicides. UT has always been plagued with them, just as all large universities are.)

1966 was way before my time, but I don't think text messaging was as popular in Austin back in those days as it is today. ;-

[jospehm20]

“The psychiatric profession has a lot to answer for”

I personally believe that they are responsible for the majority of what is wrong with America today.

[archy]

when police finally allowed people to leave campus, the students had to do so with their hands in the air.

what wrong with this picture ???

Even more so: the two female cop *heroes* who sent an UNARMED civilian through a doorway to find out if a second gunman was present.

[Gilbo_3]

the two female cop *heroes* who sent an UNARMED civilian through a doorway to find out if a second gunman was present.

wow...admittedly i didnt bother reading this whole article till you posted that nugget, but it didnt come from this article...

do ya have a link with the other details ???