T1B

Shots Fired at University of Texas Austin, Cops Hunt Possible Second Suspect
Eyewitness: Gunman Was Wearing Ski Mask and Carrying Assault Rifle.
By RUSSELL GOLDMAN
Sept. 28, 2010—


A gunman wearing a ski mask and brandishing a rifle entered a library at the University of Texas at Austin today and fired several shots before taking his own life, university officials said.

Police are still looking for a possible second suspect and the campus, site of an infamous 1966 school shooting, remains on lockdown.

"The armed suspect is dead. No other injuries have been reported," UT President Bill Powers wrote in a campus email.

An email and text alert was sent to students and faculty around 8 a.m. Central Time, just as the day's first classes were beginning, warning that an "armed subject was reported last seen at Perry Castaneda Library" and telling students to remain in place.

"I was walking to class, a little late," senior Robby Reeb told ABCNews.com. "I was walking from the business school, and a guy sprinted past me screaming, 'There's a guy with a gun.' I looked up and saw a man in a ski mask, wearing a suit, and carrying an assault rifle. And I called 911."

Reeb said he was outside between two buildings and had to choose which one to enter to avoid the shooter.

Buildings near the library were placed on immediate lockdown, while some classes on the opposite side of campus were dismissed, said Miriam Smith, 22, a senior at the school.

"I had an 8 a.m. class this morning and a student checked Twitter and said that there's a shooter on campus," Smith said.

The area around the library has been sealed off with yellow police tape. Heavily armed SWAT vehicles and officers carrying automatic weapons are on campus pursuing the second possible gunman.

A second email alert told students that one gunman was dead, but advised: "If you are off campus, STAY AWAY. If you are on campus, lock doors, do not leave your building."

The university was the site of one of America's most infamous campus shootings when Charles Joseph Whitman, a student and former marine, killed 14 people and injured 32 others in 1966. Whitman climbed 29 floors to the observation deck of the school's iconic tower and began picking people off with a rifle. He was eventually shot by police.

Sirfindafold wrote:He'll probably be given an award by the teleprompter in chief for showing restraint and not killing anyone (besides himself).