Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Breaking News: Gunman opens fire at UT in Austin, kills himself

AUSTIN, Texas — A student wearing a dark suit and a ski mask opened fire Tuesday with an assault rifle on the University of Texas campus before fleeing into a library and fatally shooting himself. No one else was hurt.
The shooting began near a fountain in front of the UT Tower — the site of one of the nation's deadliest shooting rampages more than four decades ago, when a gunman ascended the clock tower and fired down on dozens of people.

Within hours of Tuesday's gunfire, the school issued an all-clear notice, but the university remained closed, and the area around the library was still considered a crime scene.

"Our campus is safe," school President Bill Powers said.

Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo expected the school to be "completely open and back to normal" by Wednesday morning.

Authorities identified the gunman as 19-year-old Colton Tooley, a sophomore math major. Police declined to speculate on his motive. Tooley's parents did not immediately respond to a message left by The Associated Press.
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