I remember accounts of the incident telling of people going to their vehicles to get their guns after the initial carnage and firing into the tower at Whitman. Firearms in vehicles was fairly commonplace back in the 1960's. At least some accounts credited the armed citizens with distracting Whitman long enough for the APD to make a safe approach. Prior to that, at least one kid and a woman had been killed by Whitman in trying to approach the tower.
By Wiki's own account, the first shots were fired at 11:48 a.m. and the APD didn't reach the observation deck until 1:24 p.m. That's one hour, 36 minutes total. I can't imagine Texas citizens waiting that long today, much less in 1966.
***I remember accounts of the incident telling of people going to their vehicles to get their guns after the initial carnage and firing into the tower at Whitman.***
This is exactly what happened. Whitman was hitting people at very long ranges with his telescope rifle. When people started firing back they kept him pinned down well enough for the police to enter. He still kept firing using his M-1 carbine, but wasn’t hitting like he did with his rifle.
When NBC presented a made for Tv movie of this incident they downplayed the people firing back and at the end when it was mentioned Whitman had a brain tumor, NBC had a loud voice over advertizing another TV show so people missed the brain tumor statement.