Tom Karr was born in Spur, Texas on July 29, 1942 and grew up in Fort Worth. He served in the military, stationed in Taiwan (then called Formosa) from 1963-1965. In 1966 Karr was an Honor student at Arlington State College, but his dream was to work for the U.S. State Department so he decided to earn some extra credits by going to summer school at UT. On August 1, he was leaving campus after having aced a Spanish test.

The 24-year-old was walking on the sidewalk on the west side of Guadalupe, in front of Snyder-Chenards dress shop. He was heading towards Batts Hall, where he was living at the time. Karr was just a few feet north of where Karen Griffith was shot – right in front of his eyes. Whitman shot Karr as he rushed to try to aid Griffith.

The bullet pierced through the left side of Karr’s spine, which laid him flat out on the sidewalk. He lay there for about an hour before he was taken to Brackenridge Hospital, where he died on the operating table at 1:10 p.m. He is buried back in Spur.

Thomas Ray Karr