Tuesday, September 28, 2010

"DEY SHOO'IN!" Shots Fired at University of Texas

This has been a huge local story all day. The following are the notes I took from news and call-in shows:

News flash! an incident occurring approximately 08:10-ish In a gun-free zone . . .

  • 08:25: There is word over the radio of a shooting on the University of Texas (Austin) campus. Shooter has a black suit & tie, black rifle, face covered, reports of 5 to at least 10 shots fired. A cabbie called in to the radio news show and said the guy was shooting right in front of his car. I was thinking VRRRRRRMMM-CRASH! Shooter run over, okay, done! Or in the alternative, draw your gun from its concealed hide in the car, and PEW! PEW! PEW! okay, done! Not everyone thinks like me, though, and this driver followed the example of brave, brave Sir Robin. One can hardly blame him.
    They'll be sending 100% of all the DPS and APD and probably the Sherrif's department down there. Traffic will be a nightmare. For those unaware, the UT campus is in the heart of downtown Austin. This will be a mess. My prediction: either a yabba dabba jihad, or a disgruntled liberal.

  • 08:50 Reports of more shots fired. Police swarming the area, shooter possibly holed up on 5th floor of the (PCL) library. Roll swat, break out the tactical rifle, PEW! okay, done!
  • 08:52 Shooter on 6th floor, reportedly has killed himself
  • 09:01 Caller wonders why someone would go shooting downtown, seeing as other peoples' lives are at stake. I LOL'd at the dummy caller: duh, if you are shooting you probably want to take lives, dumbass!
  • 09:08 Austin Police Chief Acevedo says there are no known injuries. There was one active shooter, they are looking for a second suspect. First suspect apparently committed suicide
  • 09:11 John Lott was scheduled to speak on campus tonight according to a caller
  • 09:44 police dogs searching the Calhoun building across the street from the library for a possible second gunman
    They are looking for a second shooter because the Police have conflicting reports of the shooter's description. If you are not sure what you saw, please shut up about what you think you saw. This is a busy area at 08:20 in the morning. Somebody will give a good report. If you called in with a half-remembered thing you heard from somebody who was looking the other way at the time, congratulations. You just cost a day of productivity at the University and several tens of thousands of dollars from the Police budget. They will be sweeping every nearby building, going door-to-door, for HOURS looking for a phantom.
    Gun is called an AK-47. Almost certainly an AK variant, not a true AK. Genuine (machine gun) AKs are hard and expensive to buy in the US because of the first setting on the rifle's fire controls. "Clip" often used in description . . . AKs don't use clips, they use magazines.

  • CG says to me with an amused tone of voice: Dave . . . I didn't expect you to come in today. Funny guy.
  • TT says (when he heard it was an AK) "Stop drop and roll!" I told him, "No, that's for when you're on fire, not when you're fired on.

    Shooter reportedly tall, skinny, light skinned (white/hispanic?) male
    Walked around, firing left-handed from the hip. Not shouldered, not aimed.
    Police chased him into library ~5 minutes after started shooting. When seconds count . . .
    John Lott WAS actually scheduled to speak on the UT campus on the topic of concealed carry on campus. Everything scheduled for today on campus was cancelled, so the event has been moved. Timing.
    Shooter was a 19 y.o. math major, sophomore at UT, from Austin, lived with family. Updated prediction: drugs or PTSD or ADHD-drugged as a kid.
    Possibly copying a similar scene from a video game
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