AUSTIN — Students and faculty at the University of Texas experienced moments of terror Tuesday morning when a 19-year-old opened fire on campus.
The family of Colton Tooley said they never expected what happened.
The only life lost at UT was that of the gunman, who was a sophomore at the school.
Police credit the spread of social media and a warning system for keeping students out of harm's way.
But neither Tooley's loved ones nor detectives appeared to be any closer to figuring out why the bright student did what he did.
Classes had barely begun as the terror started to unfold Tuesday morning.
"I just freaked out," said student Melissa Thornton. "I couldn't stop shaking for a while, so I called my mom and dad and told them I was OK."
Colton Joshua Tooley — a 19-year-old sophomore majoring in math — brought an AK-47 assault rifle to campus and opened fire.
He did not appear to be firing at anyone — just shooting indiscriminately.
"He was just yelling 'Whoo! Whoo!' like you're at a football game or a sporting event," said witness Jose Abalos.
Tooley fired at least 11 rounds outside the Perry-Castaneda Library building before going inside and taking his own life on the sixth floor.
Relatives said they are as stunned as anyone.
"He was a very smart guy; very intelligent," said a man who wished to be identified only as "Marcus," Tooley's cousin. "Excellent student and wouldn't or couldn't hurt a fly. If he was depressed, you'd never know it."
Police surrounded Tooley's Austin home and questioned the teenager's parents. His father is a local veterinarian.
"We'll be looking at just whatever we can find — the computers or anything in the house — that might show a motive or reasoning for what happened," said UT police Chief Robert Dahlstrom.
John Woods was a student at Virginia Tech when a student went on a deadly rampage there. He lost four friends in that melee.
Many argue Tuesday's incident in Austin is a prime example why students should carry concealed weapons, but Woods worries it would only confuse matters more.
"Worse than that even is the issue with the police not knowing who the bad guy is," Woods said. "If the police come on the campus and they're looking for the second shooter and six people have guns, now they have to go through and search everybody... you have to wait for SWAT teams to arrive before the EMTs can show up and start doing their job."
Woods was among 53,000 people on the UT campus to get an emergency text message, seven minutes after the first 911 call.
UT calls its new alert system a success.
Perhaps the best news is that no one else was hurt. But what sparked such a public suicide is a mystery police aren't certain they can solve.
Administrators said classes will resume as normal Wednesday morning after being suspended all day Tuesday.
Police hope to have the library cleaned up and ready to reopen on Wednesday as well.
Warning systems similar to the one at UT are in use in North Texas at SMU, UT Dallas, the University of North Texas, TCU and U-T-Arlington have outdoor sirens. They also notify students of emergencies by phone and text message.
E-mail jwhitely@wfaa.com
