1:54

as

2:00

Hawaii and Canada. But

2:02

KTBC employees answered each call

2:05

and gave an update, before moving on to

2:07

the next call. Reporter Joe Roddy

2:10

even updated the public on the status

2:12

of the newsroom during the evening broadcast

2:14

on August 1st. Almost every

2:16

metropolitan market radio station

2:19

in the United States has called KTBC

2:21

today at least once for an up-to-the-minute

2:23

report. They answered

2:26

so

2:26

many calls that they were behind the deadline

2:28

for their own broadcasts. On

2:31

several occasions, copy was being edited

2:34

ahead of the announcer reading it.

2:36

As the news reports went out, all

2:39

eyes were on the University of Texas. The

2:42

university's chancellor at the time, Harry

2:44

Ransom, was in the upper floors of

2:47

the tower during the shooting.

2:48

He later gave a statement to KTBC.

2:51

The community is appalled,

2:54

by the appalling tragedy which occurred today.

2:59

University offices are cooperating

3:01

fully with law enforcement

3:03

agencies.

3:03

No explanation

3:06

of motive in any normal

3:09

content is available.

3:12

The chairman and the chancellor expressed

3:15

deep concern and sympathy for

3:18

the family of those

3:21

persons who lost their lives and

3:25

for those who were injured

3:26

and their relatives.

3:29

Both noted the heroism

3:33

and selflessness

3:36

of students, law

3:38

enforcement officers, and staff

3:41

who attempted, often successfully,

3:45

to rescue those hurt

3:47

and in danger.

3:50

After Chancellor Ransom read the official

3:52

statement, he wanted to add one of

3:54

his own.

3:55

That official statement I

3:57

must add, informally, that from the tower...

3:59

I have never seen, or have

4:02

I ever imagined,

4:03

anything like

4:06

this. The youngsters in

4:08

white shirts who saw these things happen

4:10

came out from buildings at

4:12

Great Lake, and he

4:14

rescued a pair of persons

4:17

who were hit.

4:19

It's incredible, and

4:22

it's very heart-lifting.

4:25

But in a moment,

4:29

a pair of these things.

4:36

I'm Sarah Kinney, and this is Season 4

4:38

of Dark You're listening

4:40

to Episode 7.

4:47

The university decided to close campus

4:49

the day after the shooting, but

4:51

classes resumed August 3. Forest

4:55

Priest remembers how suddenly things went

4:57

back to normal.

4:58

Now, Wednesday, we're supposed to be back in class ready

5:01

to rock. They

5:04

weren't cutting off any slack at all, man.

5:07

Friday, I had a test of that 9 o'clock in the county

5:09

for like 25% of the grade in the class.

5:11

Unlike today, there weren't trauma

5:14

or grief counselors available, or

5:16

really any other aid for students after

5:18

the shooting. And Forest

5:21

said many professors didn't grant any

5:23

extensions.

5:24

I mean, I didn't have a chance to slack off.

5:27

You better have your socks

5:29

pulled up and your nose wiped and ready to go at

5:32

that point.

5:33

So Forest spent the week after the shooting

5:35

studying for his test. After

5:37

almost being shot on Monday, he

5:40

took his test that Friday.

5:41

And I'll never forget that our professor

5:43

in that class graded the papers

5:45

over the weekend, came back with him Monday,

5:47

said, I'll give you guys credit you

5:49

did pre-dog on-will on this thing considering

5:52

what happened last week.

5:53

The day after the shooting, APD

5:56

was preparing for their 10 a.m. press conference. Ranger

5:59

Ray

5:59

Martinez said the police chief gave

6:02

him a

6:02

warning before the conference.

6:04

And the chief controlled.

6:07

He told me, McCoy,

6:10

and Jerry Day, and Ellen Crumb, we were

6:12

all supposed to be questioned by the news

6:15

media, because he was full of news media. And

6:18

he said, I am the only one

6:20

that's going to answer questions, unless

6:23

I tell you to.

6:24

The chief wanted to keep Ranger Ray

6:27

away from the media as much as possible.

6:30

Ranger Ray said the chief even asked him

6:32

and his family to spend the previous night

6:35

somewhere besides his house, just

6:37

in case there was a frenzy of reporters waiting

6:39

for him outside. Ranger Ray

6:41

said the chief might have been afraid of backlash

6:44

from the media, since it took the department

6:46

over an hour to stop the sniper.

6:48

The reason why

6:50

the chief wanted to

6:52

keep me away from the news media, he wanted to keep

6:54

me away, because they were afraid that I was going to say

6:56

what I told you. And

6:59

they're going to say, well,

7:01

what happened? I mean, how come somebody—how

7:04

come did it take this man an hour

7:06

to get there

7:08

and nothing had

7:10

happened within that hour? How come somebody didn't

7:12

do something?

7:15

There would have been a lot of questions,

7:17

which

7:19

led to problems later on, you know,

7:23

because the truth

7:25

hadn't come out.

7:27

So the chief ordered them all to keep quiet

7:29

during the conference and to let him

7:31

answer all of the questions.

7:32

And he says, then

7:35

that's it. You cannot say anything.

7:38

Okay.

7:38

Officer Houston McCoy was under

7:41

similar restrictions as Ranger Ray. His

7:43

daughter, Monika McCoy, read his account

7:46

of the conference. The secretary

7:48

telephoned and asked if I could come in for

7:50

media

7:50

interviews. After the mass media

7:53

interviews

7:54

where I followed Chief R.A.

7:56

Miles' cautions of the left side,

7:58

the better it's been. At the time, the

8:01

officers and Allie Crumb, the

8:03

university co-op employee who had gone

8:05

onto the observation deck with the officers

8:08

to help stop the sniper, walked

8:10

into a room full of reporters and sat

8:12

down at a table. Chief

8:14

Robert Miles sat in the middle of

8:16

the table, with

8:17

Ranger Ray and Crumb to his left and

8:20

McCoy and Officer Jerry Day to his

8:22

right. Officer

8:24

Day had been with Crumb on the observation deck

8:27

when Ranger Ray and McCoy shot the sniper,

8:29

so when he started the news

8:31

conference, he said, I am the one that's going to

8:33

be answered the questions and if somebody objects

8:36

to it or whatever, then we're

8:38

through. See, because he wanted to control

8:41

it.

8:41

Chief Miles answered the questions

8:43

as the officers sat next

8:45

to him.

8:46

Even though Chief Miles didn't stop

8:48

the sniper, he gave a description of how

8:50

the other officers did. Afterward,

8:55

Ranger Ray left with his brother to pick up his

8:58

car. It was still parked just

9:00

off campus.

9:00

I had two parking tickets, because

9:04

I said I parked in a two hour

9:06

zone. However,

9:08

the news media ladies, when

9:11

they found out about it, they wanted to make a big

9:13

hoorah about it. But

9:16

the thing of it is, when I looked at the tickets,

9:18

they were issued

9:20

on Tuesday.

9:22

That's after all the shooting and to

9:24

me that showed that everything was

9:26

returning back to normal, which was

9:29

good. And it was dismissed.

9:30

Ranger Ray didn't end up having to pay

9:32

the parking tickets. Even

9:35

after the police conference, there were

9:37

still a lot of unanswered questions about

9:39

what happened on August 1st. The

9:42

news stations kept the public posted over

9:45

the following days. Those updates

9:47

included trying to understand why the

9:49

sniper did what he did. That

9:51

question was somewhat satiated by an

9:54

autopsy of the sniper that supposedly

9:56

revealed a brain tumor. Many

9:58

people today and back to the hospital. Ben believed

10:00

the tumor was the reason he committed these crimes.

10:03

Dr. Coleman D. Shanar, a neuropathologist

10:06

and pathologist, did the autopsy.

10:10

He reported finding the tumor in the white

10:12

matter above the brainstem. He

10:14

also reported necrosis, or dead

10:16

cells, surrounding the tumor. Over

10:19

the next month, following the shooting, Governor

10:21

John Connolly put together a team of

10:24

medical experts to try to find a medical

10:26

explanation behind the sniper's

10:27

actions. The report

10:29

from that investigation revealed the sniper

10:32

had a glioblastoma multiforme, a

10:34

particularly aggressive type of brain cancer.

10:37

But to this day, people still disagree

10:40

on how that could factor into the shooting. According

10:43

to the American Association of Neurological

10:45

Surgeons, these types of tumors can

10:47

change people's personalities. In

10:51

a 2016 article in the Daily Texan, the

10:53

University of Texas' student newspaper,

10:56

a psychiatry professor said that while the

10:58

tumor may have affected the sniper, it

11:01

probably wasn't the sole reason for the shooting.

11:03

And there were probably other contributing factors,

11:06

like that

11:07

he came from an abusive home. There

11:09

are even some experts who question whether the sniper

11:12

had a tumor at all. In

11:14

my research, I've seen countless other

11:16

articles and experts supporting any of those

11:19

three possibilities. So

11:21

it's complicated, and we won't ever have

11:23

a conclusive answer since the sniper can't

11:25

be evaluated.

11:27

And his brain went missing back in 2013,

11:30

so it can't be reexamined.

11:33

The medical experts who put together the

11:35

governor's report pointed out a few issues

11:37

with the autopsy. For

11:39

one thing, the autopsy wasn't performed

11:41

until 24 hours after the sniper

11:44

had died, and the body

11:46

had been partially embalmed. Plus

11:48

the sniper's brain had been badly damaged

11:50

during the shooting, so not all

11:52

of his brain matter was examined. Ranger

11:55

Ray thinks a lot of these issues stem from

11:57

the fact that officials hadn't initially planned

12:00

on doing an autopsy in the first place.

12:02

This was a screwed up affair. I

12:05

think the reason why they

12:07

decided to go ahead and have him involved,

12:10

because they were not going to do an autopsy,

12:12

but somebody decided, hey, this is a very serious

12:14

case.

12:15

Since the sniper was killed, he couldn't

12:17

complete any sentence for his crimes. So

12:20

building evidence for a case against the sniper

12:22

didn't matter to Ranger Ray. Because

12:24

there was no defendant. The defendant

12:27

was dead. I waste the money,

12:29

you know, in the

12:31

cost of death.

12:33

However, there was a second case in

12:36

regards to the shooting. As

12:38

protocol and any homicide, a

12:40

jury had to be summoned to investigate whether

12:42

Officer McCoy and Ranger Ray's killing

12:45

of the sniper was justifiable.

12:46

So we would be the defendants,

12:49

so to speak, because we killed him. But

12:52

he was a criminal, and we did it in a justifiable

12:55

homicide.

12:56

Along with all the potential issues with the

12:58

autopsy, Ranger Ray had a separate

13:01

problem with the police department. They

13:04

didn't do a critique of their performance at the

13:06

tower shooting, as they usually did for

13:08

their other responses.

13:10

This is what's common in

13:12

police work. Whenever you have an incident

13:14

like that, of course, there had never been an incident

13:16

like that. But any time that you have some incidents,

13:19

even in the military or wherever,

13:21

after a battle, you have kind

13:24

of a critique, you know, what did we do

13:26

right, what would we do wrong, how can

13:28

we improve, or whatever.

13:30

And I was waiting for that. You know,

13:32

hey, we're going to get together, and we're going to discuss,

13:35

in case there's another problem like this

13:37

again, how are we going to handle

13:39

it, what did we do right, what did we do wrong, and

13:42

what kind of equipment do we need.

13:44

But the critique never happened.

13:46

In my opinion, the reason they

13:48

didn't have a critique is because

13:51

the citizens were upset that it took

13:53

an hour and 30 minutes.

13:56

And so they were very upset.

14:00

They thought that this should have been done

14:02

a lot quicker.

14:03

After the news conference, officers

14:06

McCoy and Connor met up again.

14:08

Since they both like to fly recreationally,

14:11

they decided to take a plane out over Austin.

14:13

It was late in the afternoon, I'd be getting

14:16

very hot because we were down low.

14:19

Officer Connor and his wife told me

14:21

about that flight. He remembers

14:23

seeing the tiles of the observation deck

14:25

from above.

14:26

And we were just kind of shocked at that.

14:30

Because I mean, we both were talking about

14:32

it. It was like,

14:34

it's red.

14:36

And we didn't realize it was just the dust. So

14:39

in other words, they cleaned up the mess and went

14:41

home and that was it.

14:43

Two days later, on August 4th,

14:45

many APD officers, including

14:48

Officer Connor and Ranger Ray, drove

14:50

down to San Antonio for Officer

14:52

Billy Speed's funeral. Like

14:58

August 1st, it was hot outside

15:01

as the officers approached rows of marble

15:03

tombstones. They were

15:05

dressed in their uniforms as they went to say

15:07

goodbye to Officer Speed.

15:09

I attended the funeral for Billy.

15:14

And he was buried at Fort Sam Houston. He

15:16

was ex-army also.

15:18

Six of the officers, including

15:20

Officer Jerry Day, lifted Officer

15:23

Speed's coffin. It was blanketed

15:25

with an American flag. They

15:27

carried Officer Speed over the grass

15:30

to a stone engraved with a small cross

15:32

on the top.

15:32

They buried him in San Antonio at the National

15:35

Cemetery because he was a veteran.

15:38

After graduating from the police academy,

15:40

new officers were assigned to work with a more

15:42

experienced officer. Ranger

15:45

Ray had mentored Officer Speed when he

15:47

first joined the Austin Police Force.

15:49

And he rode with me. And

15:52

I remember going to his house and

15:55

seeing his

15:58

little girl.

15:59

Now

16:03

at Speed's funeral, Ranger

16:05

Ray watched as the little girl's father

16:08

was lowered into his grave.

16:14

Officer McCoy wasn't able to attend

16:17

Officer Speed's funeral. He had

16:19

to go to court that day. As

16:21

I mentioned earlier, a jury was called

16:23

to declare whether the killing of the sniper was

16:26

a justifiable homicide. Officer

16:29

Connor remembers Officer McCoy couldn't

16:31

go to Speed's funeral since he was summoned

16:33

to testify at the jury in Austin.

16:36

The way the laws are in Texas,

16:39

they immediately, anytime it's a homicide,

16:43

they go before a grand jury so that

16:45

a grand jury 20 years in the

16:47

future, because there's no statute of limitations

16:50

on homicide, could come back and indict

16:52

you for some wrongful act

16:54

or whatever. And so that's just

16:57

a

16:57

procedural point. So

17:00

he didn't get to go to the funeral because of that.

17:03

The court

17:03

session took place in Austin, which

17:05

is about a two-hour drive from San Antonio,

17:07

where the funeral was. So

17:10

Officer McCoy couldn't attend both. Despite

17:13

also shooting the sniper, Ranger

17:15

Ray wasn't summoned.

17:16

See, I didn't know there was going to be a grand jury.

17:19

And Chief Miles later years said that

17:23

I was so distraught

17:25

that

17:27

he wanted me to take time off.

17:30

Bull crap. I wouldn't have gone to the grand jury

17:32

because how

17:35

can McCoy justify

17:38

going into the grand jury

17:41

and saying, I got the call?

17:44

After Officer Speed's funeral, Ranger

17:46

Ray drove back home to Austin. Yet

17:49

his day still wasn't over.

17:51

I got back about 6

17:53

o'clock in the evening,

17:56

and I got in my patrol car, and I went to

17:59

work.

18:00

As life slowly returned to normal across

18:03

Austin, those in the hospital were

18:05

just starting their road to recovery. Some

18:08

patients didn't even know about the chaos

18:10

outside of the hospital after the shooting

18:13

as they fought for their lives within the walls

18:15

of the ICU. In order to

18:18

tell their stories properly, let's

18:20

go back to August 1st, when

18:22

ambulances were still unloading victims

18:24

that afternoon after the shooting. In

18:28

the hallway of Brackenridge Hospital, Sandra

18:31

Wilson regained consciousness. She

18:34

still wasn't fully aware of what had happened to

18:36

her.

18:37

Maybe before

18:40

I got to the hospital, I knew something

18:42

had happened to me

18:44

and maybe I think I don't know.

18:47

I'm sure once I got to the hospital and saw

18:49

all the blood and gore and all the awful

18:52

stuff going on.

18:53

From her gurney, she could see the

18:55

same scene that her friend Jim Brice had.

18:59

He'd come to Brackenridge after another student

19:01

had told him Sandra was hospitalized there.

19:04

I remember one of the

19:05

first days that I got there that

19:08

day. I do remember people,

19:11

it was EER,

19:13

I guess, they were stretchers

19:16

with people on them. And I remember

19:18

thinking, some of those people have already died,

19:20

you know. So it was pretty

19:23

traumatic, pretty scary.

19:26

Claire Wilson laid on a nearby stretcher,

19:28

waiting for the urgent medical care she needed.

19:30

The hospital

19:33

workers rushed up and down the hall. I

19:35

heard the people when I was lying there.

19:38

I heard people saying, we've got

19:40

to get help for that pregnant woman. And

19:42

then somebody else yelled,

19:45

no, we've got to help the people

19:48

there's still hope for. So I

19:50

thought, I guess

19:52

I'm not going to make

19:54

it.

19:57

Brackenridge was a teaching

19:58

hospital.

19:59

So many of the doctors were students. Finally

20:04

a young doctor came up to Claire. She

20:06

said it was his first day as an OB resident.

20:09

And he was,

20:11

you know, trying to get my blood pressure. And

20:14

he couldn't get it. He couldn't get

20:16

a blood pressure. I said, am

20:18

I going to die? And he just turned

20:21

his head away because he didn't

20:23

want to. Probably told

20:25

me that I was conditioning him. He didn't

20:27

know what to say.

20:29

Another worker at the hospital came over to

20:31

comfort the resident.

20:32

It's just horrible, all

20:34

these people coming in, dying. And

20:38

so, and I was going, I

20:40

thought, why don't you try to comfort me? You

20:43

know, and

20:45

so it's just so funny, you know, how you have

20:47

those funny things that happen in the

20:49

middle of, you know, dark things.

20:53

Finally, the staff began

20:55

to prepare Claire for surgery. And

20:57

then I remember they had to get me to

21:00

sign my name. I'm going, you

21:02

know, I couldn't even do anything,

21:04

but to give them

21:06

permission to operate. She was

21:08

still wearing the same bloodstain clothes from

21:10

that morning.

21:11

The same dress Tom and her had bought just

21:14

days ago. And then

21:17

they started cutting off my dress. And

21:20

it was the only, it

21:22

was a beautiful maternity

21:25

dress. And the only maternity dress

21:27

I had. And it was just

21:29

beautiful. A surgeon came

21:31

over and grabbed her and 17-year-old

21:33

Karen Griffith's stretchers.

21:36

Karen had been on the drag when she was shot

21:38

through her arm and chest.

21:41

Both of her lungs were injured. He grabbed

21:44

our gurneys and he said, we don't have time

21:46

to extract. That they had to get in and open

21:48

us up right away and see what they could do.

21:51

During surgery, Claire's doctors

21:53

weren't able to fix all of the damage at

21:55

once.

21:59

her stomach, colon, and uterus,

22:02

and shattered her hip. Her baby boy

22:05

had a fractured skull and was declared

22:07

dead on delivery.

22:08

They were just, you

22:10

know, getting all the shrapnel out of my intestines

22:13

and delivering the baby, you know,

22:15

who of course was not alive. And

22:19

just,

22:21

you know, it was very long to just take

22:24

care and find out what the damage was and

22:26

staple me back up. The surgery

22:29

took around 12 hours. The

22:31

other girl who the doctor took into surgery,

22:34

Karen, initially survived her

22:36

operation.

22:38

However, she died a week later. Over

22:47

the following weeks, many of the

22:49

victims of the shooting stayed at Bracken Ridge.

22:52

Those in worse conditions stayed in the ICU

22:55

until their next surgery or until

22:57

they were stable. Sandra

23:02

Wilson stayed at Bracken Ridge for just

23:04

under a month. She spent the

23:06

first week in the ICU. He

23:10

shot me to the left side

23:12

and

23:13

it knocked my, part

23:16

of my arm muscle

23:18

or something, and then

23:19

it

23:22

grazed my spinal cord and

23:24

knocked out my lung. So

23:27

I just had one lung for a while and then

23:29

they

23:30

inflated it or something.

23:33

They couldn't get all the little

23:34

bullet pieces it shattered.

23:39

The bullet had fragmented, leaving

23:41

little pieces scattered throughout one of her lungs.

23:45

Those little pieces caused her pain for

23:47

the next four

23:48

years.

23:50

Sandra was from Birmingham, Alabama,

23:53

so her family wasn't around when the shooting

23:55

happened. When they found out

23:57

she was in the hospital, they traveled to

23:59

Texas to be with her. I

24:02

was real sick and I don't remember a whole lot.

24:04

I remember my sister coming to visit me and

24:07

she had never flown before and she had a

24:09

new baby, a brand new baby. My mom

24:11

and my aunt Gladys came. So

24:14

that was nice.

24:16

After several weeks at Brackenridge, Sandra

24:19

was finally discharged. She

24:21

went home to Birmingham, Alabama and

24:23

stayed with her family for another month of recovery.

24:27

Members of the shooting had spread across the nation.

24:30

People sent her and her family letters. She

24:33

even got asked for

24:34

interviews. I got a

24:36

bunch of publicity I guess in Birmingham.

24:39

I remember, you know, being written

24:41

up in the papers and that kind of thing. Because

24:44

I was the only one from Birmingham. I

24:48

did an interview on TV. I

24:53

don't remember what show it was. It was

24:55

like a talk show.

24:56

Just two months after the shooting, Sandra

24:59

would return to the University

25:01

of Texas.

25:03

Later on, she said the university gave

25:05

her a scholarship. The funny thing

25:08

is, just

25:10

a few days or something before I

25:13

got shot, I think I had applied

25:15

for a student loan or a student

25:17

grant or something and I

25:20

think I got turned down. My

25:22

grades weren't very good. But then

25:25

after I got shot, all of a

25:27

sudden I got money. So

25:29

that was nice.

25:32

Several of the victims received funds from

25:34

the Students Association to pay their medical

25:36

bills.

25:38

Cliff Ramond, the student body president,

25:40

set up booths around campus a few weeks after

25:42

the shooting to collect money.

25:45

Part of his note to university staff

25:47

about the booth said,

25:49

those of us who were more Now

25:51

recognize the problems facing the injured.

25:58

bills

26:00

pile up while income is suspended. Family

26:03

and friends must lend support and we of

26:05

the university community need to bolster

26:08

that support. He also wrote

26:10

that to some this could mean the end of studies

26:13

and thus a loss that cannot be measured in dollars.

26:16

Below his signature were some examples

26:18

of expenses the injured might face such

26:21

as a day in intensive care costing $50 per

26:23

day which is about $465 today.

26:25

Like Sandra, Mary Frances Gabor also had a long

26:29

stay at Brackenridge.

26:35

She later wrote in her book that she went in and

26:37

out of consciousness after being taken

26:39

out of the tower. When she and

26:41

her older son Mike arrived at Brackenridge

26:44

they were both taken to surgery. After

26:47

several hours they were both wheeled out

26:49

of surgery with bullets still inside

26:52

them. The doctors told her it

26:54

would be riskier to take them out than to leave

26:56

them in. So Mary Frances

26:58

still had a bullet in her kidney while

27:00

Mike still had one in his lung tissue. Mary

27:03

Frances was then taken to the ICU.

27:06

She had lost her vision and was paralyzed

27:09

below her neck. Mary Frances

27:11

stayed unconscious for a long time but never

27:14

asked anyone exactly how long she

27:16

was out. She

27:18

wrote that she was aware people were near her during

27:21

this time though. She

27:23

said her daughter who hadn't gone on the trip

27:25

to Austin with them was often by

27:27

her side along with her husband and

27:30

other family members. Whenever

27:33

Mary Frances did wake up it

27:35

wasn't for long but she would ask about

27:37

her son Mark.

27:39

Unlike his brother Mike, Mark

27:42

didn't make it out of the tower alive.

27:44

So whoever she asked would either tell

27:46

her that they were going to see Mark after

27:48

visiting her or just report

27:50

on how Mike was.

27:52

Even when she started to recover and stay

27:54

awake for longer periods of time she

27:56

kept asking about Mark. The

27:59

doctor would tell her that that he didn't know since

28:01

he didn't take care of Mark, only

28:03

Mary Frances and Mike. Then

28:05

he would give an update on Mike too. Mary

28:09

Frances began to suspect the worst,

28:12

but her son didn't survive. Her

28:14

husband confirmed her suspicions on August

28:17

4th after Mark and her sister-in-law's

28:19

funerals in their hometown of Texarkana.

28:25

She wrote that the truth about Mark, quote, made

28:28

my suspicions true and that there could no

28:30

longer be hope.

28:32

She said, quote, the pain

28:34

was too sharp. She said

28:36

she didn't understand why Mark had died

28:38

instead of her.

28:40

She reasoned that it was part of God's

28:42

plan, but that didn't help with the pain

28:44

of losing her son. The

28:47

next day, an ambulance came to move

28:49

Mike to a military hospital in San

28:51

Antonio since he was still enrolled

28:53

at the Air Force Academy as cadet. His

28:57

left side was still largely paralyzed.

29:01

Mary Frances hadn't seen either of her

29:03

sons since that day in the

29:04

tower and wasn't able to

29:06

see him before the ambulance took him. However,

29:09

they did tell her that he was being transferred.

29:13

Mary Frances spent two weeks in the

29:15

ICU.

29:17

During this time, family members

29:19

split their time

29:20

between visiting her or driving

29:22

to San Antonio to see Mike. After

29:26

three days out of the ICU, the

29:28

doctor told her she could be transferred

29:29

to a hospital in her hometown

29:32

of Texarkana. However,

29:34

she would have to be flown since she couldn't sit

29:36

up. A small

29:39

aviation company offered to fly her

29:41

there. Now

29:43

that she was closer to home, her husband

29:45

returned to work and her daughter was able to

29:47

visit her every day. People

29:50

sent her flowers and gifts and a local

29:52

bank set up the Mark Gabor Memorial Fund.

31:59

alone,

32:01

and I'd have to do the best I could with what

32:03

I had left." She

32:06

missed out on parts of her family's lives,

32:08

such as her daughter's wedding, as a result

32:11

of her injuries.

32:13

Mary Frances died in 2006.

32:22

Claire Wilson had an even longer stay

32:24

than Sandra and Mary Frances

32:26

at Brackenridge Hospital though. She

32:29

said the doctors were concerned

32:30

about her hip bone.

32:32

On the third operation,

32:34

and maybe fourth,

32:37

he came up with this idea that hadn't been done

32:39

before. And it was, he

32:42

wanted to cut out my

32:44

iliac crest, that's my hip bone,

32:47

because it had been shattered, and it was

32:49

just inside, you know,

32:52

my body, all shattered.

32:54

Claire said they were concerned about the bone fragments

32:57

causing an infection. His idea

32:59

was to take out all the shattered pieces

33:01

of bone because he felt they would create

33:04

infection inside of me. And

33:06

so he opened it up, and then

33:09

his idea was to pack it

33:11

all down with gauze and

33:13

drip through antibiotics.

33:16

And I don't think it had ever been done, and Brackenridge

33:19

didn't want it to be done because I

33:22

was a very high profile patient,

33:26

and they were afraid that it would bring,

33:29

you know, bad things to their hospital

33:31

if they tried something innovative

33:33

and I died. You know, but

33:35

of course I would have died without it, probably.

33:39

And so anyway, he persevered

33:41

and they let him do it.

33:43

Most of the hospital staff supported Claire

33:45

during her recovery. I so admired

33:47

them because they were brave and were doing, you

33:51

know, things, you know, for the

33:53

betterment of people. And

33:56

there they were, just lined up, you

33:58

know. I don't know. 50 at least,

34:02

were all lined up in the hospital

34:04

hall just saying, Claire we love you,

34:07

we love you and you know

34:09

just

34:11

I cannot tell you. I mean I get

34:14

goosebumps when I think about it.

34:16

There were a few hospital employees who weren't

34:18

quite as accepting of Claire though.

34:20

I think a couple of the nurses that

34:22

did think it was shameful that I

34:24

was pregnant and unmarried. Those

34:27

were the only people and they weren't really important

34:30

to me so it didn't matter

34:33

but I remember they

34:35

thought of me as kind of a wild

34:38

girl but I wasn't. I

34:40

wasn't wild. They looked at me,

34:43

you know the people in the hospital, some

34:45

of them, especially probably the older

34:47

ones like 40 and above, looked

34:49

at me like she's pregnant, she's not

34:51

married, she looks like such a nice

34:54

girl.

34:55

The staff took care of Claire during her seven

34:57

weeks in the ICU and later on

34:59

as she went in and out of surgeries.

35:04

You know I was so

35:07

ill and I

35:09

mean you know I was fighting for my life

35:12

and you know I had what six

35:15

operations and

35:17

all of them were like you know major

35:20

major 11 hours, 12 hours, 10 hours.

35:23

Claire also struggled mentally during her time

35:25

at Brackenridge. In fact I got an ulcer

35:27

in the hospital because I thought when

35:30

they came up to rescue

35:32

us I said, I told

35:37

them Tom was dead and

35:40

I thought maybe he wasn't

35:42

dead and I had caused

35:44

him to die by saying he was

35:46

dead.

35:47

It felt like I was being selfish

35:50

to say that Tom was dead.

35:57

that

36:00

she realized she hadn't lied. She

36:02

saw the footage of that day as two students,

36:05

John Fox and James Love, carried

36:07

her off. In the background,

36:10

Vietnam veteran, Breein Ellison, struggled

36:13

to lift Tom. It was the second

36:15

from the time that they picked

36:17

me up till they picked him up, and

36:20

you could see he was dead.

36:22

You know, his, I don't know if you

36:24

remember, but

36:24

his head was hanging

36:26

down. He'd been shot in the neck,

36:29

spine and all that. And his

36:32

head was just totally down. And,

36:34

you know, I thought, you

36:37

know, that's just,

36:39

what do they call it, survivor's guilt.

36:46

She didn't see that footage or the many

36:48

updates on the shooting during this time. And

36:51

there were strict rules as to who could visit

36:54

her, how long they could stay, and what she

36:56

could or couldn't have. So

36:58

she didn't see much of the outside world during

37:01

those weeks. They wouldn't let me have

37:03

flowers, but somehow

37:06

my dad and Bubba each

37:09

brought in one flower

37:11

that they allowed, which I

37:13

thought was very kind of. You

37:15

know, it was just so beautiful to see

37:18

that. And I remember the

37:20

leaves were starting to turn, and there was a window

37:22

in the ICU that

37:26

I could look out and see the

37:30

leaves turning.

37:32

Claire said her mom visited her every

37:34

day. However, they weren't

37:36

entirely happy visits. Claire's

37:39

parents were separating just before she

37:41

came to Austin.

37:42

I was very angry with her

37:44

because I

37:46

just somehow was in this little

37:48

bubble from getting shot where

37:51

I thought somehow my mom and dad are going to get back

37:53

together, and we'll have our whole family,

37:55

and it'll be normal again. And

37:57

so my mom had a

37:58

very, very, very hard time.

39:48

nearly

40:00

four months there, recovering physically

40:03

and emotionally.

40:05

While there, she thought of her baby

40:07

often. They never talked to me about

40:10

the baby because I

40:12

guess they just thought I

40:14

was lucky that I didn't end up being an unwed

40:17

mother or something. You know, I didn't

40:19

think that way and my friends didn't

40:22

think that way.

40:23

Near the end of her hospital stay, Claire

40:25

went in for some scans.

40:28

The x-ray technician recognized her. This

40:31

young man, probably about 23,

40:34

was operating the machine and

40:36

he told me he had been there and

40:38

had worked with me on the day I came in,

40:40

but I didn't remember. Oh, he

40:43

said he had x-rayed

40:45

and done all that stuff

40:48

for my baby. Nobody

40:54

had ever talked to me about my baby.

40:57

He said he was

40:58

perfect. Well, later I found out

41:01

he was probably perfect

41:03

in as much as a baby that's been

41:05

shot in the head can

41:06

be perfect, right? I

41:08

mean, probably his legs and his

41:11

arms and everything were really

41:13

good, but, you know,

41:15

he had, I think it was his, the

41:18

brunt he took of the bullet that saved

41:21

my life because it hit

41:23

him in the head.

41:27

And I think it protected vital

41:29

organs

41:31

in my body.

41:33

Claire never got to see her son as

41:36

they took him away after the C-section.

41:38

It was so beautiful

41:41

that he told me about my

41:43

baby.

41:55

This time on season four of

41:58

darkness.

41:59

There is a mass shooting, the image another

42:02

caught me as I tried to mess with it. I think

42:04

we all need to start being a lot kinder

42:06

in really trying to help each

42:09

other and especially children.

42:12

But when you're in that kind of a situation,

42:15

your brain is all

42:17

about one thing, survival.

42:20

And it leaves gaps, must

42:23

leave gaps. It's moving

42:25

and focusing on so many things. It

42:29

leaves gaps. Well, apparently

42:31

the brain hates gaps. So

42:34

it fills them with

42:37

things that it can manage, manageable memories.

42:40

It's a traumatic experience. It's

42:42

not normal. And

42:45

you will remember things that never

42:49

happened, never flaming happened

42:51

and you will swear on a

42:54

stack of vitals you have a clear memory of it.

43:03

This season of darkness is reported,

43:05

written and hosted by me, Sarah

43:08

Kinney.

43:09

Heather Stewart is this season's producer,

43:12

sound designer and editor. Katie

43:14

Panchuk-Outkut and Robert Quickly are

43:16

the executive producers.

43:19

This podcast is presented by the Drag

43:21

Audio Production House, which is part of

43:23

Texas student media at the University

43:25

of Texas at Austin's Moody College

43:27

of Communication. The associate

43:30

producers are Jade Emerson, Liv

43:32

Gamble, Cameron Griser, Mackenzie

43:35

Matwick, Ashley Miznazi, Marissa

43:38

Green, MJ Tilton, Guido

43:40

Palufo, Liam Quickly, Aurora

43:43

Berry and Jeannie Sanchez. The

43:45

cover art was created by Alexa Georgelos.

43:49

Sophia Vargas-Carom is the Drag's

43:51

marketing

43:51

and communications manager.

43:54

Thank you to the Austin History Center, Neil

43:56

Spels and the LBJ Presidential

43:58

Library for

43:59

archival audio tapes.

44:02

Special thanks to the University of Texas

44:04

School of Journalism and Media and Texas

44:07

Student Media. Also

44:09

to Jay Bernhardt, Rachel Davis Mercy,

44:11

David Reif, and Gerald Johnson.

44:14

A huge thanks to Leslie Schrock for

44:17

all her support and guidance. The

44:19

Drag is a non-profit educational

44:21

organization that is made possible

44:23

by individual donations.

44:26

Please support our work by going to dragaudio.com

44:29

slash donate. Every

44:32

dollar goes directly to producing more

44:34

content like this, while giving students

44:37

an amazing educational experience.

44:40

Thank you.

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