Episode 2: 'Like I was being electrocuted' | The UT Tower Sniper

Introducing: Season four of ‘Darkness’

Darkness - Episode 1: 'A typical summer' | The UT Tower Sniper

<p>It’s August 1, 1966, a hot summer day in Austin, Texas. Not that many people are on the University of Texas campus, except the students enrolled in summer classes. As Monday morning classes start, a 25-year-old former Marine has just killed his wife and mother. He packs the trunk of his car with seven guns and enough supplies to last him days. Then he drives to campus.</p>

Episode 1: 'A typical summer' | The UT Tower Sniper

This podcast contains strong language, references and descriptions of domestic abuse, violence,

It also has graphic descriptions of gun violence in schools.

Mental health is an important part of this story, so please take care while listening.

On a hot Texas night in late July of 1966, two University of Texas students walked into

Jim Brice and Sandra Wilson were friends who had met in a philosophy class.

They had made plans to hang out before their school week started.

So we went to a movie at the Paramount downtown.

We went to an evening movie and it was about, I guess it was an eight o'clock movie.

I do remember we went to see a movie called The Russians Are Coming or something like that.

It was the height of the Cold War and the movie was a satire.

When it ended, Jim and Sandra drove to Mount Benel.

Despite having mountain its name, it's basically a big hill that overlooks Austin.

Wouldn't it be nice by the Beach Boys or the Beatles' paperback writer might have played

The songs were two of the summer's biggest hits.

They parked at the base of Mount Benel and climbed a long stairway to the lookout spot.

At the top, they sat down and took in the view of Austin.

On August 1, 1966, a sniper climbed the steps of the University of Texas at Austin’s 27-story tower. Seventeen people were killed and more than 30 others were injured. Fifty-six years later, mass shootings make headlines nearly every week. And the University of Texas tower looms over campus, a reminder of one of the first mass school shootings in United States history that has long been forgotten.

In season four of “Darkness,” host Sara Kinney walks through the day of the University of Texas Tower shooting and outlines its legacy among the decades-long epidemic of gun violence in schools. Hear from survivors, heroes and family members about their day in 1966, their lives since then and the state of gun control today.

0:00.0	You're listening to The Drag.
0:08.6	This podcast contains strong language, references and descriptions of domestic abuse, violence,
0:15.0	and suicide.
0:16.9	It also has graphic descriptions of gun violence in schools.
0:21.4	Mental health is an important part of this story, so please take care while listening.
0:28.8	On a hot Texas night in late July of 1966, two University of Texas students walked into
0:35.4	the air-conditioned Paramount Theater.
0:38.3	Jim Brice and Sandra Wilson were friends who had met in a philosophy class.
0:43.1	They had made plans to hang out before their school week started.
0:46.5	I said, Sandra, let's go to a movie.
0:48.2	I said, OK.
0:49.2	So we went to a movie at the Paramount downtown.
0:51.2	We went to an evening movie and it was about, I guess it was an eight o'clock movie.
0:56.1	I do remember we went to see a movie called The Russians Are Coming or something like that.
1:03.0	It was the height of the Cold War and the movie was a satire.
1:06.9	When it ended, Jim and Sandra drove to Mount Benel.
1:10.5	Despite having mountain its name, it's basically a big hill that overlooks Austin.
1:19.0	Wouldn't it be nice by the Beach Boys or the Beatles' paperback writer might have played
1:23.4	over the car's radio?
1:24.9	The songs were two of the summer's biggest hits.
1:28.4	They parked at the base of Mount Benel and climbed a long stairway to the lookout spot.
1:33.8	At the top, they sat down and took in the view of Austin.
	...

Episode 1: 'A typical summer' | The UT Tower Sniper

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