AUSTIN — It has been 50 years since the UT tower shooting forever changed the Forty Acres.
It was a tragedy that left the city in shock and tested the resources of that time. Brackenridge hospital's disaster plan in 1966 is credited with saving numerous lives the day of the shooting. There was no emergency medical service system in place back then, and few ambulances.
SPECIAL REPORT - UT Tower Shooting: 50 Years Later
In fact, many of Charles Whitman's victims were brought to the hospital in hearses and armored trucks.
"That sort of shooting happened today, it would be a big deal. It would overwhelm the system pretty quickly, and we'd be in a mass disaster sort of situation, so to think of that 50 years ago in 1966 with a hospital that wasnt near as prepared, not near as advanced, for them to come together in that critical time with all those patients had to be overwhelming, but they took great care of those patients,” said Dr. Carlos Brown, UMC Brackenridge Chief of Trauma.
Dr. Joe Reneau said Aug. 1, 1966 will be a day that he never forgets.
"It was the worst thing in history that ever happened here up to that time,” said Dr. Reneau.
Fresh out of his first year of interning at Brackenridge Hospital, he was called in to the emergency room. At 12:12 that afternoon, Charles Whitman's first victim was brought to the hospital.
After that, patients poured in at a rate of one every two minutes in that first hour.
"I only remember one patient. I remember the 18-year-old girl that was pregnant, 8 months pregnant. That's all I remember,” said Dr. Joe Reneau.
The UT Tower shooting launched what is now Brackenridge's distinguished trauma center.