The Brain Tumor That Created America's First Mass Shooter

Added: 2026-05-26

[00:00:00]Did you know America's first televised mass shooting was committed by someone who might not have been in control of his own mind? August 1st, 1966.

[00:00:08]Charles Whitman was the perfect American boy, Eagle Scout, Marine sharpshooter, engineering student at the University of Texas. That morning he killed his mother and wife while they slept, and then he packed a footlocker with guns and ammunition.

[00:00:21]At 11:30 a.m., Whitman took the elevator to the 27th floor of the UT Tower. He barricaded himself inside and started shooting. For 96 minutes, he picked off targets from 300 feet above campus.

[00:00:32]Students, teachers, anyone who moved. 17 people died, 31 were wounded. Police finally stormed the tower and killed him.

[00:00:41]But the autopsy revealed something no one expected, a tumor pressing directly against his amygdala, the part of the brain that controls aggression and impulse. Whitman had been complaining of headaches for months. He'd even seen a psychiatrist about violent thoughts. Was this evil, or was this medicine? The question still haunts us today.