Free Republic

Friday marks 59 years since the tragic University of Texas Tower shooting. On Aug. 1, 1966, a man by the name of Charles Whitman disguised himself as a janitor and carried bags of guns to the top of the UT Tower. Whitman set up on the observation deck of the tower where he then opened fire on the people below. “At approximately 11:53 a.m. on Aug. 1, 1966 I came within 4 feet of being shot by the tower sniper,” said Austinite Forrest Preece, who was a student during the shooting. “A gentleman standing that far to my right was...

DALLAS -- A 12-year-old girl upset over being grounded is accused of shooting her mother to death early Sunday in her bed. The girl's 10-year-old brother called police about 1 a.m. after finding his mother, 48-year-old Elvira Marion Walton, shot. The 12-year-old who was being detained at the Henry Wade Juvenile Justice Center. "Apparently the motive is because the daughter was upset that the mother disciplined her," Dallas police Sgt. Gary Kirkpatrick, homicide unit supervisor, said in Monday editions of The Dallas Morning News. Walton had six children and lived in a converted garage used as the family home. An...