...and that many of those citizens were students, that the under-equipped police helped civilians retrieve their rifles, and that one civilian was part of the team that stormed the observation deck and stopped the shooter.
"When Whitman began shooting, the Austin Police Department was ill-equipped for the situation. They mostly possessed only their service revolvers and shotguns, weapons that were useless when it came to long distances. If they did possess a rifle, it was because it was a personal weapon. The officers weren’t alone, though. Once bystanders realized what was going on, many ran to retrieve their own firearms and fired back at the tower. In a few instances, police officers drove people in their squad cars to purchase ammunition or to pick up rifles. Some people asked police what to do if they had a shot at the sniper. The police said that they should shoot to kill."
http://behindthetower.org/armed-civilians-and-the-ut-tower-tragedy
"...students and residents to fetch their own high-powered rifles and shoot back, helping an unprepared and outgunned police force. Some worked alone, taking position on roofs or behind bushes. Others partnered with Austin police officers, whose handguns and shotguns could not reach Whitman nearly 300 feet above. Officers even raced to gun stores to get ammo for the civilians, who were told to shoot to kill. "These guys were pretty good shots," said Bill Helmer, then a graduate student who witnessed the mayhem. "There was a lot of lead flying up there at him."
https://www.adn.com/nation-world/2016/07/31/the-loaded-legacy-of-the-university-of-texas-tower-shooting/
And then there's the story of Alan Crum, a civilian who armed up, was deputized on the way up inside the tower, and was one of the small cadre who stormed the observation deck and ended the shooter's rampage:
https://apps.texastribune.org/guns-on-campus/allen-crum-helped-stop-ut-tower-shooter-charles-whitman-republish/
