Charles Whitman

Charles Whitman was a twenty-five-year-old man from Austin, Texas, who shot forty-six people in August, 1966, killing thirteen of them. Whitman had gone with several guns to the observation deck of an office tower on the University of Texas campus, where he indiscriminately shot at people below. Prior to going to the tower, Whitman had also stabbed his wife and his mother and composed a suicide note. In the note, he wrote that he had begun to feel "overwhelming violent impulses" (p. 152) and suggested that an autopsy be done on his brain after his death to determine the cause.

Whitman was killed by a police officer and his body was examined afterward. It was found that he had a brain tumor that affected his amygdala, a part of the brain associated with the control of emotions, especially fear and aggression. After the incident, people who knew Whitman remarked...