Editing Charles Whitman (section)

== Events leading to the shooting ==
[[File:The Tower, University of Texas at Austin (ca 1980).jpg|160px|thumb|Main building of the University of Texas at Austin.  Whitman fired at people on the ground from the observation deck.]]
On the day before the shootings, Whitman bought a pair of binoculars and a knife from a hardware store, and some [[Spam (food)|Spam]] from a [[7-Eleven]] convenience store. He picked up his wife from her summer job as a telephone operator before he met his mother for lunch at the Wyatt Cafeteria, which was close to the UT Austin campus.<ref name="Time-Life Books 1993 51">{{harv|Time-Life Books|1993|p=51}}</ref>

At about 4:00 p.m. the same day, Whitman and his wife visited their close friends John and Frances Morgan. They left the Morgans' apartment at 5:50 p.m. so Kathy could get to her 6:00–10:00 p.m. shift.<ref name="Time-Life Books 1993 51"/>

At 6:45 p.m., Whitman began typing his [[suicide note]], a portion of which read:
{{blockquote|I don't quite understand what it is that compels me to type this letter. Perhaps it is to leave some vague reason for the actions I have recently performed. I don't really understand myself these days. I am supposed to be an average reasonable and intelligent young man. However, lately (I cannot recall when it started) I have been a victim of many unusual and irrational thoughts. These thoughts constantly recur, and it requires a tremendous mental effort to concentrate on useful and progressive tasks.<ref name="letter"/>}}

In his note, Whitman went on to request an [[autopsy]] be performed on his remains after he was dead to determine if there had been a biological cause for his actions and for his continuing and increasingly intense headaches. He also wrote that he had decided to kill both his mother and wife. Expressing uncertainty about his reasons, he nonetheless stated he did not believe his mother had "ever enjoyed life as she is entitled to",<ref name="Time-Life Books 1993 51"/> and that his wife had "been as fine a wife to me as any man could ever hope to have". Whitman further explained that he wanted to relieve both his wife and mother of the suffering of this world, and to save them the embarrassment of his actions. He did not mention planning the attack at the university.<ref name="helmer">{{cite web|url=http://www.texasmonthly.com/story/madman-tower?fullpage=1|title=The Madman on the Tower|last=Helmer|first=William|date=August 1986|publisher=texasmonthly.com|access-date=2015-03-15|archive-date=2015-04-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402094937/http://www.texasmonthly.com/story/madman-tower?fullpage=1|url-status=live}}</ref>

Just after midnight on August 1, Whitman drove to his mother's apartment at 1212 Guadalupe Street. After killing his mother, he placed her body on her bed and covered it with sheets.<ref name="Mass Murderers' p. 53">{{harv|Time-Life Books|1993|p=53}}</ref> How he murdered his mother is disputed, but officials believed he rendered her unconscious before stabbing her in the heart.<ref name="Mass Murderers' p. 53"/>

He left a handwritten note beside her body, which read in part:

{{blockquote|To Whom It May Concern: I have just taken my mother's life. I am very upset over having done it. However, I feel that if there is a heaven she is definitely there now [...] I am truly sorry [...] Let there be no doubt in your mind that I loved this woman with all my heart.<ref>
Whitman, Charles. [http://alt.cimedia.com/statesman/specialreports/whitman/letter1230.pdf "Whitman Note Left with Mother's Body"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030804124118/http://alt.cimedia.com/statesman/specialreports/whitman/letter1230.pdf |date=2003-08-04 }}, ''The Whitman Archives'' via ''Austin American-Statesman'', August 1, 1966.
</ref>}}

Whitman then returned to his home at 906 Jewell Street, where he killed his wife by stabbing her five times in the chest as she slept. He covered her body with sheets, then resumed the typewritten note he had begun the previous evening.<ref name="trutv4">{{cite web|url=http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/mass/whitman/preparations_4.html|title=Charles Whitman: The Texas Tower Sniper (Preparations)|last=Macleod|first=Marlee|publisher=trutv.com|page=4|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120702161926/http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/mass/whitman/preparations_4.html|archive-date=July 2, 2012}}</ref> Using a ballpoint pen, he wrote at the side of the page:
{{blockquote|Friends interrupted. 8-1-66 Mon. 3:00 A.M. BOTH DEAD.<ref name="Mass Murderers' p. 53"/>}}

Whitman continued the note, finishing it by pen:
{{blockquote|I imagine it appears that I brutally killed both of my loved ones. I was only trying to do a quick thorough job [...] If my life insurance policy is valid please pay off my debts [...] donate the rest anonymously to a mental health foundation. Maybe research can prevent further tragedies of this type [...] Give our dog to my in-laws. Tell them Kathy loved "Schocie" very much [...] If you can find in yourselves to grant my last wish, cremate me after the autopsy.<ref name="letter"/>}}

Whitman also left instructions in the rented house requesting that two rolls of camera film be developed and wrote personal notes to each of his brothers.<ref name="Mass Murderers' p. 53"/> He last wrote on an envelope labeled "Thoughts for the Day", in which he stored a collection of written admonitions. He added on the outside of the envelope:
{{blockquote|8-1-66. I never could quite make it. These thoughts are too much for me.<ref name="Mass Murderers' p. 53"/>}}

At 5:45 a.m. on August 1, 1966, Whitman phoned his wife's supervisor at Bell System to explain that Kathy was ill and unable to work that day. He made a similar phone call to his mother's workplace five hours later.

Whitman's final journal entries were written in the past tense, suggesting that he had already killed his wife and mother.<ref name="letter" />