Emails, Jason Stanford, communications director, Office of Austin Mayor Steve Adler, June 14, 2016

From: Selby, Gardner (CMG-Austin)

Sent: Tuesday, June 14, 2016 2:47 PM

To: Stanford, Jason

Subject: Mayor Adler's claim on KOKE FM today

Jason:

Good afternoon.

Mayor Adler said on KOKE FM this morning: “Austin was the site of the first mass shooting in the country,” referring to Whitman on the tower.

For a fact check, how did he reach that conclusion? (I am not seeking fresh research.) I would be happy to hear from him by email or phone if that’s easiest.

FYI we delved into mass shootings in this January fact check.

THANKS.

g.

W. Gardner Selby

Reporter / News

Austin American-Statesman

PolitiFact Texas

From: Stanford, Jason

Sent: Tuesday, June 14, 2016 2:53 PM

To: Selby, Gardner (CMG-Austin)

Subject: RE: Mayor Adler's claim on KOKE FM today

That’s on me. I always thought the Charles Whitman shooting was the first mass shooting in the country, and I put that into his remarks on Sunday, which he repeated on the radio this morning. I both regret and will correct the error. Thanks for bringing this up. Unexamined beliefs are a bear.

From: Selby, Gardner (CMG-Austin)

Sent: Tuesday, June 14, 2016 2:55 PM

To: Stanford, Jason

Subject: RE: Mayor Adler's claim on KOKE FM today

Well, where did you hear it and such, if you can recall?

G.

3:01 p.m.

It’s something that people have told me since I moved here in the 1990s. My ex in-laws were actually on campus during the shooting and had to take cover, so it’s something that would come up a lot. Could not possibly tell you where I first heard it. Just part of the atmospheric apocrypha, like it being illegal to pick bluebonnets or that the Texas flag is the only flag that can fly as high as the American flag.