Colton Tooley: U of T Shooter Remembered By Friends, Family

by Amy Judd | September 29, 2010 at 09:06 am

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Colten Tooley, the Young Student Who Fired Shots and Killed Himself on the University of Texas at Austin Campus on Tuesday, Was Remembered By Friends and Family

'Intelligent' and 'quiet' were just two of the words being used to describe Colton Tooley on Wednesday morning, just one day after the math sophomore killed himself in the Perry-Castaneda Library on campus.

Tooley graduated from Crockett High School and his principal spoke about how he was an excellent student.

Craig Shapiro, principal of Crockett High School, said Tooley graduated seventh in his class and excelled in every subject.

“His teachers recall him with words such as brilliant, meticulous and respectful,” Shapiro said in a statement.

A former high school classmate told The Daily Texan that Tooley was an 'exceptionally bright student', but that his presence at the University of Texas was largely overlooked until the events on Tuesday.

A former high school classmate of Tooley's and a former Texan staff member, Rachel Platis, said that Tooley was 'always so respectful and sweet', and that none of his classmates would have thought he would be capable of violence.

Tooley's cousin, known only by Marcus, said that Tooley's family want people to remember how he lived and not how he died.

“He couldn’t or wouldn’t hurt a fly,” Marcus said. “If he was depressed, you would never know it.”

Tooley lived in South Austin with his parents according to KVUE News, and officers spent some time at his parent's house on Tuesday night to try and understand why Tooley had done what he did. They did remove some items from the home, but have not disclosed what those are.

Neighbors KVUE spoke with did not want to go on camera, but they say the family was friendly, and had never caused any problems.

David Sepeda, a physics freshman, told The Daily Texan that Tooley was not the most popular student in high school, but he did not know of anyone who had given Tooley any trouble.

“We always had a good time in the classroom,” Sepeda said. “He helped everyone that asked for it. Of all people at UT, I never would have thought it would have been him.”

Any motive for the shooting and for Tooley taking his own life are still unclear, but one picture of the young math student has emerged; he was a quiet and respectful young man who no one would ever think would be capable of any violence.