I remember that day and reading the articles on it later. An armed civilian (rifle I believe) went up the stairs to the top with a cop. The top is like a guardhouse with a walkway all around it. The men went in opposite directions around the guardhouse. The cop saw the perp first and took him out.
Now I have to go read up and see if my memory is at all accurate.
Yep, a civilian was involved as were 3 cops. Houston McCoy seems to have fired the fatal shots with a 12 gauge. The civilian, named Crum, had an accidental discharge on the walkway, which caused Whitman to look in that direction. McCoy and Martinez got the shots off at Whitman.
Civilians with rifles were credited with slowing Whitman down by harassing him with fire.
14 dead, 32 wounded, some as far away as 1,500 feet.
Whitman had a brain tumor, like Hillary.