When a gunman dressed in black was spotted on the campus of the University of Texas, there was no hesitation on the part of school officials.  In the wake of the shootings at Virginia Tech, and UT’s own history with crazed gunmen going onto the campus for shooting sprees (Charles Whitman), Texas does not mess around with this kind of stuff, and the quick actions of campus officials and the coordinated responses of campus security, school staff, and the Austin, Texas, police department saved many lives yesterday.

The gunman, 19-year-old Colton Tooley of Austin, was a UT student majoring in math and actuarial studies.  At just after 8 in the morning, students spotted the armed man wearing black, firing bursts of gunfire into the air and at the clock tower where Charles Whitman went on his famous killing spree.  They panicked and called the police.  Police informed campus officials, and in 15 minutes the entire campus was alerted via text messages, warning sirens, and Twitter updates.  That kept students out of the way, kept people alive, and made the job of the police easier as they tracked Tooley to the sixth floor of the Perry-Castañeda Library.  At 8:50, Tooley committed suicide.

This prompt response it heartening, in that it shows officials can handle these sorts of situations when they come up with the proper training, but isn’t it kind of disheartening that we need these sorts of disaster preparedness plans for people going crazy on our college campuses?  It’s a sign of the times, I guess.

Tags: Colton Tooley, University of Texas, UT, Austin, Texas, campus warning system, UT campus alert, text message warning system, William Powers, UT gunman, UT library shooting, emergency responses, campus shooting, Perry-Castañeda Library

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