Michael Hall was an assistant professor at UT Austin in 1966. He was the person who made the first emergency call to Austin Police. While many people heard the shots and thought they were something else – dropping lumber, stacking Coke bottles, a car back-firing – Hall recognized the sound as shots immediately. He credits his memories of his time in WWII.
Hall ran out of Garrison Hall to see for himself what was going on and ran back inside to call 911.
He says a man he saw hiding behind a tree was later shot and killed.