Campus Alert Archive
UT Austin

44 Years After the Tower, UT Austin's Alert System Faces Its First Active Shooter

TXactive shooteremergency notificationhigh confidence
Confirmed Threat

On September 28, 2010, sophomore math major Colton Tooley, 19, wearing a dark suit and ski mask, fired 11 rounds from an AK-47 near the Littlefield Fountain beginning around 8:10 a.m. He then entered the Perry-Castaneda Library and killed himself with the final round. No other injuries occurred. UT Austin's emergency alert system, upgraded after Virginia Tech, sent its first text at 8:17 a.m., five minutes after the first 911 call.

Alerts
5
Response
5 min
Killed
0
Injured
0
Institution
The University of Texas at Austin
Public R1 · TX
~51,000 studentsUT Emergency Alert
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

5 messages in sequence · 3 verified verbatim

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTSMS
Approximate reconstruction143 chars
Armed subject on campus. Last seen near Perry Castaneda Library. Shelter in place. Barricade yourself in a room if possible. Do not go outside.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Sent five minutes after the first 911 call at 8:12 a.m.
Multiple sources describe the alert as warning of an 'armed subject' near PCL and directing students to shelter in place and barricade
Sent via text, email, and the UT emergency website simultaneously
The shooter was already dead by 8:22 a.m., though this was not yet confirmed when the alert went out
UPDATESiren+8 min
Approximate reconstruction179 chars
Attention. This is the University of Texas emergency warning system. There is an emergency situation on campus. Shelter in place. Move indoors immediately. Stay away from windows.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Sirens and loudspeakers began sounding at 8:25 a.m. and repeated every 10 minutes for the first hour, then every 15 minutes
The outdoor siren system provided coverage for people who might not have received the text alert
UPDATESMS+11 min
Verified verbatimUT Austin News and contemporaneous reporting documenting the 8:28 a.m. CDT campus-wide text92 chars
Armed subject reported last seen at Perry Castaneda Library on 9/28/2010. Details to follow.
Campus-wide text issued at 8:28 a.m. CDT on September 28, 2010 — identifying Perry-Castaneda Library by name and including the explicit date stamp
Sent 16 minutes after the first 911 call at 8:12 a.m. CDT
By this time the shooter had been dead for approximately 6 minutes, but officers had not yet confirmed no additional threats
Brevity reflects the SMS character constraint of 2010-era emergency notification systems
UPDATEEmail+1h 13m
Verified verbatimUT Austin email alert quoted in WBUR/AP coverage of the September 28, 2010 incident133 chars
A suspected shooter in PCL library is dead. Police are searching for possible second shooter. Lock doors, do not leave your building.
Email alert sent to students and staff after Tooley's body was found on the sixth floor of the Perry-Castaneda Library
The 'possible second shooter' language reflected initial fog-of-war reports that proved unfounded
Concrete protective directives — 'Lock doors, do not leave your building' — kept the campus in shelter-in-place even after the suspect was confirmed dead
UPDATEWebsite+2h 13m
Verified verbatimUT Austin emergency website alert posted 10:30 a.m. CDT, September 28, 2010200 chars
A suspected shooter in PCL library is dead. If you are off campus, STAY AWAY. If you are on campus, lock doors, do not leave your building. All organized classes for today, September 28, are canceled.
Posted on UT Austin's emergency website at 10:30 a.m. CDT on September 28, 2010 — approximately two hours after the first alert
Used 'PCL' (the campus shorthand for Perry-Castaneda Library) and capitalized 'STAY AWAY' for emphasis
Cancelled all organized classes for the day, an unusual operational decision for UT Austin given its ~51,000 enrollment
Issued after the medical examiner confirmed the suspect was dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on the sixth floor of PCL
Context

Background

The UT Austin shooting of September 28, 2010, was the first active shooter incident on the campus since Charles Whitman's 1966 tower shooting, which killed 17 people. The 44-year gap between incidents gave UT Austin time to build one of the most comprehensive emergency notification systems in the country, upgraded significantly after Virginia Tech in 2007. The system's performance was closely scrutinized. The first text alert went out at 8:17 a.m., just five minutes after the first 911 call at 8:12 a.m. Sirens activated at 8:25 a.m. The UT Police Department's after-action report, released in July 2011, was praised for its transparency. Colton Tooley, the 19-year-old sophomore who fired the shots, had no prior criminal record and no known motive was ever established. He fired 11 shots into the air and ground before entering the Perry-Castaneda Library and using the final round to kill himself. No other people were injured. The incident demonstrated that a well-funded, well-tested alert system could achieve near-real-time notification, but also raised questions about how long a campus of 51,000 students should remain locked down when the threat is no longer active.
Analysis

Key Findings

A five-minute gap from first 911 call to first text alert represented a dramatic improvement over Virginia Tech's two-hour delay
Multi-channel delivery (text, email, siren, website, Facebook) ensured broad coverage across 51,000 students and staff
The shooter was dead by 8:22 a.m. but the lockdown continued for hours, illustrating the challenge of confirming an all-clear on a large campus
UT Austin's transparent after-action report became a model for post-incident review at other universities
Outcome
Colton Tooley was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound inside the Perry-Castaneda Library at 8:22 a.m. No other people were injured. The campus remained on lockdown for several hours as police cleared buildings.
Provenance

Sources

  1. Source
    UT Austin Shooting Incident Timeline - Campus Safety Magazine
    campussafetymagazine.com
  2. Report
    University of Texas at Austin Active Shooter/Suicide After Action Report
    ojp.gov
  3. Official
    Alert Update: Campus Shooter Confirmed Dead - UT Austin News
    news.utexas.edu
  4. News
    UT Police Release Report on Campus Shooting Response - KUT Radio
    kut.org
  5. News
    Shooter at University of Texas was a student - CNN
    cnn.com
Tags
active-shootersuicidemulti-channel-alertsiren-systempost-virginia-techafter-action-reportfive-minute-response2010
Added April 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion