A Sniper in the Tower (78 page)

Authors: Gary M. Lavergne

Tags: #History, #United States, #General, #State & Local, #Southwest (AZ; NM; OK; TX), #True Crime, #Murder, #test

BOOK: A Sniper in the Tower

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Page 269

Charles Whitman knew that what he was doing was evil. Explanations for his crime describe the source of his frustrations, but they do not excuse his killing. Almost every premeditated murder results from a frustration of some sort, and Whitman's troubles were not particularly remarkable. College campuses are filled with students who work at odd jobs to get through college, take schedules that are too heavy, and who work extraordinarily hard maintaining or improving their grades. Many young people, even in 1966, faced the hurt of watching their parents go through separation and divorce. None became mass murderers.

Charles Whitman became a killer because he did not respect or admire himself. He knew that in many ways he was nearly everything he despised in others, and he decided that he could not persevere. He climbed the Tower because he wanted to die in a big way; not by suicide, but by taking others with him and making the headlines. He died while engaging in the only activity in which he truly excelledshooting. His murders of Kathy and Margaret represented "suicide by proxy." He wanted to spare them the embarrassment of what he would do, just as he had written, probably because he loved them.
³⁴Margaret and Kathy's murders have been advanced by some as an indication of Whitman's insanity; why would he kill those he loved? This argument ignores America's experience with mass murderers, who often kill loved members of their own family. Given the folklore of his own personal religious beliefs, which trivialized the value of life, he likely thought that he and Kathy would be reunited in a less frustrating hereafter. Fully conscious of his mother's deep religious devotion, he may have created a notion in his mind that he was hastening her trip to heaven. After the breakup of his parents' marriage he had no such benevolence towards his father, whom he had never developed the courage or the maturity to deal with. In his mind it was just as well that the elder Whitman, alone, would be left to answer the questions. In other words, Charles Whitman was an extraordinary coward.

Charles J. Whitman ushered in a new era in which what Bill Kurtis called a "rare and frightening crime" became more common.
³⁵He also intensified a debate over an issue America never really

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addressed: What are we willing to accept as an excuse for murder? Whitman and some other high-profile killers, like Ted Bundy, gave mass murder a normal, even handsome look. Richard Speck motivated many thousands of Americans to question notions of safety in our homes; Charles Whitman stole from us the comfort of believing in the safety of public places. Together they robbed us of the luxury of initiating a pleasant conversation with a stranger, and the consolation that no member of the human family can be completely void of virtue and conscience. Through our fear they made us pay a high price for living in a free society.