UT Austin Campus Shooting

We had lots of excitement here on the University of Texas at Austin campus today.

A lone shooter was on the loose on campus, and eventually killed himself inside a campus library.

A shooting on campus here in Austin of course immediately evokes the memory of Charles Whitman, the Austin campus sniper who killed 14 people and wounded 32 others on August 1, 1966 here at UT-Austin.

The difference these days, of course, is that the campus now has text messaging and technologies like Twitter to get the word out to students and out of harms way.

People following the #utshooter hashtag on Twitter were reporting that the UT campus police, and UT administrators, had learned lessons from other shootings (including the tragic one at Virginia Tech from several years ago) and were getting the word out at lighting speed that the campus was shutting down for the day, and that police from the City of Austin and on campus were on the case.

Latest word from Austin’s newspaper, the Austin American-Statesman, is that the shooter fired four shots near a fountain on campus, and that officers then followed him into a library, where he later killed himself.

There was chatter about a second shooter, but the police seem to have ruled that out and have since given the all clear on campus.

You can read MSNBC’s latest national coverage here.

I’m just glad police were so quick on the scene and the shooter (who allegedly had an AK-47) didn’t hurt anyone (but, tragically, himself).

Blogger’s Addendum: If you’re trying to get news directly from the excellent student newspaper at the University of Texas, the Daily Texan, I got the following message around 2:25 PM CST.  They’re recommending parties subscribe to the @thedailytexan Twitter ID.  I guess that’s one way to get new Twitter followers!

The Daily Texan Online, the website for the University of Texas student newspaper, was "over capacity" after the news of today's campus shooting broke out, and visitors were referred instead to their Twitter ID, @thedailytexan