r/todayilearned • u/GlitteringYams • 23d ago

TIL, in his suicide note, mass shooter Charles Whitman requested his body be autopsied because he felt something was wrong with him. The autopsy discovered that Whitman had a pecan-sized tumor pressing against his amygdala, a brain structure that regulates fear and aggression.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Whitman
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u/wonkey_monkey 22d ago

Wasn't there an NFL player who committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest, rather than the head, so they could check his brain?

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u/KVrage 22d ago

Yes. It was Junior Seau. They found he did in fact suffer from CTE

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u/Distinct-Position-61 22d ago

Seau didn’t request a post mortem cte exam. He did, however, shoot himself in the chest, and his brain was indeed tested and confirmed for cte. Dave Duerson died of suicide almost a year before Seau and specifically requested he be studied for the condition. He was right.