Editing Charles Whitman (section)

===Committing the shooting===
At approximately 11:25 a.m., Whitman reached the University of Texas at Austin, where he showed false research assistant identification to obtain a parking permit. Whitman wheeled his equipment toward the Main Building of the University. Entering the Main Building, Whitman found the elevator did not work. An employee named Vera Palmer activated it for him; Whitman thanked Palmer, stating, "Thank you ma'am", before repeatedly saying: "You don't know how happy that makes me."

Exiting the elevator on the 27th floor, he hauled the dolly and equipment up a flight of stairs to a hallway, from which another flight led to the rooms skirted by the observation deck. There he encountered receptionist Edna Townsley. Whitman knocked Townsley to the floor and split the back of her skull with his rifle butt, then struck her above the left eye before dragging her behind a couch. As Cheryl Botts and Don Walden entered the reception area from the observation deck, Walden noticed Whitman's guns and assumed that he was going to the observation deck to shoot pigeons. Whitman smiled, "Hi, how are you?" as they went down to the elevator. He then pushed a desk across the entrance from the stairway.<ref name = shooting></ref>

M.J. Gabour, his wife Mary Frances Gabour, and their sons Mike and Mark were in Austin visiting M.J.'s sister Marguerite Lamport and her husband William Lamport . Around 11:45 am they were climbing the stairs from the 27th floor when they encountered the desk Whitman had placed in the entrance to the reception area. As Mike and Mark squeezed past, Whitman came forward and fired his shotgun, hitting Mike in the shoulder and Mark in the head, then fired down the stairs, striking Marguerite and Mary Frances. M.J. and William, farther down the stairs, were not hit and went for help at Mike's urging. Whitman then shot Townsley in the head before exiting to the observation deck.<ref name = shooting>[https://www.texasmonthly.com/true-crime/96-minutes/ 96 Minutes], ''Texas Monthly''</ref>

At 11:48 a.m. Whitman began shooting from the observation deck 231 feet (70 m) above the ground, targeting people on the campus and on a section of Guadalupe Street known as the Drag, which was home to coffee shops, bookstores, and other student hangouts.<ref name = shooting></ref>

Some mistook the sound of shots for the noise from a nearby construction site, or thought that persons falling to the ground were part of a theater group or an anti-war protest. One victim recalled that as she lay bleeding a passerby reprimanded her and told her to "Get up." Among those who grasped the situation, many risked their lives to take the wounded to safety. An armored car and ambulances from local funeral homes were used to reach the wounded.

Four minutes after Whitman began shooting from the tower, a history professor was the first to telephone the Austin Police Department, at 11:52 am. Patrolman Billy Speed, one of the first officers to arrive, took refuge with a colleague behind a columned stone wall. Whitman shot through the six-inch space between the columns of the wall and killed Speed.

Officers attempting to reach the tower were forced to move slowly and take cover often, but a small group of officers including Houston McCoy began making their way to the tower via underground maintenance tunnels. Officers and several civilians provided suppressive fire from the ground with small weapons and hunting rifles, forcing Whitman to stay low and fire through storm drains at the foot of the observation deck's wall. A police sharpshooter in a small plane was driven back by Whitman's return fire but continued to circle at a distance, seeking to distract Whitman and further limit his freedom to choose targets.

Around 1:24 pm, while Whitman was looking south for the source of the rifle shot, Officers Ray Martinez and Houston McCoy rounded the northeastern corner of the observation deck. Martinez fired on Whitman with his revolver, missing, and McCoy hit Whitman twice with his shotgun. Martinez then took McCoy's shotgun from him, having emptied his own weapon, and fired a final shot into Whitman at point-blank range. In the immediate aftermath, Martinez was nearly shot himself by those on the ground, who did not yet realize that Whitman was dead.