In 'Tower,' a mass shooting before anyone knew what that was

Charles Whitman, an architectural engineering major and U.S. Marine sniper, had climbed the campus clock tower and launched a killing rampage considered one of the first "mass shootings" in modern American history.

A new documentary film, "Tower," captures the sense of confusion and carnage that permeates many major acts of violence.

Director Keith Maitland tells the story using animation spliced with news photographs and footage, radio clips and testimonials provided chiefly by eight survivors.

Among them is Spelce, then news director for KTBC-TV, who soon after that initial report was in a station vehicle, broadcasting on radio as he drove toward the sniper.

The sniper's face doesn't appear in animation; only his legs are shown after he's killed by police and a store manager who made their way to the top of the clock tower.

When the shooting started, a TV station near to the clock tower rolled a camera close — some say it was onto a balcony, others remember it as by an open window.

Another of the documentary's stars, John "Artly" Fox, said at Austin's South by Southwest Film Festival in March that the rescuers figured they had a 75 percent chance of survival since the tower's observation deck was four-sided.