August 1, 1966
Ramiro Martinez recognized as a hero by the international media
It was a very sad day on August 1, 1966. This typically humid day became a shocking, gruesome, bloody, and deadly day that turned into the first mass killing in mid-20th century U.S. history. Charles Whitman, a former Marine sharpshooter, rained death on the unsuspecting innocent people below. He killed 14 people and wounded 32 before being taken down by the Austin Police Department.
The situation created many heroes that day:
- The bystanders who helped the wounded, and the medical personnel who aided them.
- The civilians who arrived with weapons and fired at Whitman, forcing him to take cover and limiting the range of targets.
- The men who risked their lives to stop Whitman.
This is the story of one of those men — Ramiro Martinez, a man who risked his life to stop Whitman — and the events that unfolded since the Tower incident.
Ninety-six minutes
August 1st, 1966
He was off-duty. He went up anyway.
Ramiro Martinez was an officer in the Austin Police Department. He was one of only four Mexican-American officers in APD. He was off-duty on the day of the shooting.
Hearing about it, he called the department and was told to report to the University of Texas for traffic duty. Martinez drove to the UT area, and seeing all the streets in police control, parked his car behind St. Austin’s Catholic Church. Using the buildings as cover, he ran to the South Mall. A policeman had just been killed at this site. Zigzagging, he ran up the mall to the tower building. Once inside, he rode the elevator to the 26th floor, expecting to see other police officers.
To his surprise, Jerry Day, an APD officer; Dub Cowan, a DPS plainclothes officer; and a civilian, Allen Crum, were the only ones there. Crum was an employee of the UT bookstore and was unarmed. Cowan had a sidearm and a rifle; he gave his rifle to Crum. Martinez started up the stairs to the 27th floor to confront the sniper.
Crum said, “You are not going by yourself,” and joined Martinez at the stairs. They agreed to do it service style, covering each other as the other advanced up the stairs and around corners.
- Allen Crum
- “Are we doing this for keeps?”
- Ramiro Martinez
- “You damn right.”
- Allen Crum
- “Well then, you better deputize me.”
Ramiro Martinez forced open the door to the deck, pushing away the dolly Whitman had placed there. Crum followed him out. They had covered each other service style on the stairs up to the deck.
Martinez told Crum to stay put while he rounded the southeast corner looking for the sniper — or snipers. It was very courageous of Martinez to keep looking around the corners to learn how many were on the tower. At the time, it was unknown whether this was one person or many. Another obstacle: they had to dodge bullets coming up from people on the ground.
Crum moved toward the southwest corner. Martinez continued toward the northeast. Whitman was crouched in the northwest corner. Policeman Houston McCoy and Policeman Jerry Day finally followed out on the deck. McCoy followed Martinez and Day followed Crum. Crum fired the rifle at the southwest corner; the shot can still be seen in the wall.
Martinez rounded the last corner and, seeing Whitman, emptied his six-shot pistol into him. McCoy fired his shotgun at least once, spinning Whitman around. Seeing Whitman’s continued movements as a threat, Martinez grabbed McCoy’s shotgun, ran toward Whitman, and fired again. Finally Whitman was dead. If Martinez’s shots had not wounded, disabled, and eventually killed Whitman, Martinez would have been dead — Whitman had a semi-automatic rifle in his hands.
Martinez ran from the scene yelling “…stop firing, stop firing, stop firing, I got him,” in a vain attempt to halt the ground fire. Policeman George Shepard and Policeman Milton Shoquist then entered the observation deck.
Austin History Center · Call #15 · AR.2000.002 Box 5
1:24 p.m. · ninety-six minutes from the original call
Unit 34 (Harold Moe) to Headquarters.
We have got that man.
Martinez got him.
Austin Police Chief Robert (Bob) A. Miles was not at the Tower. His information was compiled from the reports by the police officers and one civilian who entered the observation deck. The radio transmission also gives more information on what Miles did — and failed to do — as police chief during those fateful ninety-six minutes.
Following the incident, Miles sent a press release to all public news media with his signature:
Sniper on top of Univ. of Texas Tower was DOA 1:22 PM this date. Attempted apprehension made by Officer Ramiro Martinez, Patrolman Austin Police Dept. and others. Subject tentatively identified as Charles J. Whitman, CAU-male DOB 6-24-41, resident of Austin. Seven known dead. Estimated 27 injured.
Miles told Martinez not to talk to the press. He would handle all the communication. This was the largest mass murder to date in the country, so news reporters from all over the world converged on Austin.
August 2nd, 1966
“Martinez was the hero of the day.”
The next day, Miles held a press conference using information from the officers’ reports — he had not been on site during the incident. He kept strict control so the media would not ask about his role during the shooting. He had spent most of his time, other policemen said, getting in the way at Brackenridge Hospital emergency room, where the wounded were being taken.
Miles drew a diagram of the top of the Tower to show the position of Whitman and the policemen who went onto the deck. The press conference was for reporters who had arrived from all over the world: people from 36 U.S. states besides Texas, including the New York Times and the Chicago Daily News, and five foreign countries including France, Italy, and Germany. Over 125 reporters had arrived to learn the details — NBC, CBS, Time, Newsweek.
During the press conference, Miles was quoted as saying “…Martinez was the hero of the day. The young officer was shook up but did not require medical attention…” The quote was printed in the newspaper.
Also on the front page of the Austin Statesman was an article by Glenn Castlebury titled “Martinez Reflects, JUST A PART OF HIS JOB.” It explained the positioning of Whitman and the other policemen on the deck.
On August 2nd there was an autopsy of Whitman’s body. The report indicated a large-caliber penetration wound into the chest below the left arm. It also stated that Whitman’s left arm had been severely destroyed by large-caliber penetrations. All of these large wounds could have come only from Martinez’s .38 caliber gun. Whitman also had wounds caused by shotgun pellets. Both Martinez and McCoy fired the same shotgun. No one can say which pellets did what damage.
There is some controversy over the “large caliber penetrations.” This is not subject to interpretation. People making this controversy are not pathologists. They falsely call them exit wounds.
August 4th, 1966
Called away from the grand jury
After the fatal shooting, only Houston McCoy was called before the Travis County Grand Jury. Ramiro Martinez was not called. He was sent to the funeral of a fallen officer, Billy Speed, in San Antonio. Billy Speed died during the Tower incident. Miles instructed Martinez to go to San Antonio for the funeral, although everyone knew Martinez fired most of the fatal shots.
Some think McCoy deserved all the credit because he was the only one called before the grand jury. Martinez should have been called. See page A6 of the August 5, 1966 American Statesman. A member of the grand jury called Ramiro Martinez to warn him that they were trying to discredit him.
August 7th, 1966
The Tower story stirred the world
In the Sunday newspaper at the end of the week, again the international media recognized Martinez as the hero — as did Miles.
Annual report · end of 1966
Four months later, the official record still said his name
Miles reported to the Austin City Manager in his annual report for 1966: “…Finally at 1:24 PM, ninety-six minutes from the time the original call came in about the Tower incident, the following radio transmission was received ‘Unit 34 to Headquarters. We have got that man. Martinez got him.’” See page 14 of the report.
This annual report was issued at the end of December — more than four months after the Tower incident. By this time everyone had seen the results of the autopsy and the continued discussions about the incident. Still this report states that Martinez got Whitman.
1966
Accepting a bravery award plaque
1976 – 1979
Ten years later, the story changes
On the 10th and 13th anniversaries of the UT Tower incident, Miles publicly tried to discredit Martinez. In these articles, he said that Ramiro Martinez did not kill Charles Whitman.
On the tenth anniversary, the newspaper stated: “…Robert A. Miles, now a Special Assistant to the City Manager, said former Austin Patrolman Houston McCoy actually brought down Whitman with a shotgun blast but it was the newspaper that picked former Patrolman Ramiro Martinez as the hero. It was the newspaper that sort of took over, didn’t ask anyone and gave all the credit to Martinez.”
This is a total fabrication by Miles. He was the one who provided the news media with the information.
If Miles felt that Whitman died from the pellets — possibly shot by McCoy, but they could have been shot by Martinez — why didn’t Miles hold a press conference a few days after the incident clarifying that? Why did Miles wait ten years to change his story? One theory is that Miles could not change the story while the Anglo civilian, Allen Crum, was still around.
Miles made an issue of the pellets killing Whitman. He did not recognize to the public the initiative and courage displayed by Martinez and Crum, who forced their way onto the deck not knowing who and what was on the other side.
To get to the Tower, Martinez ran across the South Mall in a zigzag pattern and was very exposed. He entered the Tower through the west wing. The other policemen ran through the tunnels. Martinez took it upon himself to go up to the top. The other policemen just followed out onto the deck.
There were Austin Police Department officers, Travis County deputy sheriffs, Department of Public Safety officers, and even two FBI men firing on the tower. A very conservative estimate would be over 200. All of these officers were firing at the sniper from relatively safe positions. Not one of these Anglo officers displayed the initiative and courage to go confront the sniper. Only Martinez and Crum did. The others who went on the observation deck just followed.
This was 1966 Austin. It was totally unacceptable to Miles’s racist views that a Mexican-American could be the hero.
In the same newspaper article, Miles also said that Martinez was made a Texas Ranger solely because the organization needed a Mexican-American person. Miles said he doubted Martinez would have become a Ranger had it not been for the publicity of the Whitman shooting.
The facts are that the Rangers had invited Martinez to become a Ranger, but he politely declined because he had not taken the required test and did not want to be a token. Later he did take the test, and when he was on the list to become a Ranger, he accepted. Martinez had an illustrious career with the Texas Rangers. His investigations led to successful prosecution of high profile cases in the State of Texas. Compare Martinez’s police record with Miles’s: it is clear that Martinez was the more professional.
August 3, 1979 — thirteen years after
Close to Miles’s death, he once again spoke to the newspapers, giving the credit to McCoy rather than Martinez. Why the change in story from the original information?
As Miles is discrediting Martinez, he doesn’t mention DPS Officer Dub Cowan and APD Officer Jerry Day, who were on the 26th floor before Crum and Martinez arrived. Everyone — especially those critical of Martinez — should ask: why didn’t these two law officers go confront the sniper? Instead, Cowan gave his rifle to Crum, the civilian. Day eventually followed behind Crum out onto the deck, but had not taken the lead.
Miles’s actions during the Tower incident should also be questioned. A competent police chief would have established a control center by the switchboard at police headquarters to handle the calls coming from officers in the UT area. He would have organized and dispatched a group of officers — captains, lieutenants, and sergeants — in police cars with radios to take control. The principal order would have been to enter the Tower and do what was necessary to stop the shooting. Nothing like this was done by Miles. His duty was to protect the citizens of Austin, and that didn’t happen. The public at large showed their disappointment by saying that people ranking from sergeant to the chief of police should have been fired. Ramiro Martinez, without any supervision, did his job as a police officer. Miles as the police chief was a failure.
One other piece of misinformation is the rumor that Martinez’s daughters were given full scholarships to the University of Texas due to their father’s actions. This is not true. His twin daughters, Janice and Janette, both attended Southwest Texas State University, and not on a scholarship.
August 1, 2006
The City of Austin said his name again
On the 40th anniversary of the Charles Whitman massacre, the City of Austin proclaimed August 1, 2006 as “Ramiro Martinez Day.” Ramiro Martinez was definitely a hero on the day of the Tower incident.
Conclusion
Credit, courage, and who failed
Ramiro Martinez showed a lot of courage and initiative to go to the observation deck and take down Whitman. He was a hero on that day. Houston McCoy does deserve recognition for risking his life, going up to the observation deck, and also shooting at Whitman. Over the years, McCoy had not received the recognition he deserved, which is unfortunate.
If any blame should be assigned to anyone for not recognizing McCoy, perhaps it should fall squarely on the shoulders of Police Chief Bob Miles, any of his superiors, and some of the members of the grand jury. While they said that McCoy had committed a justifiable homicide, they failed to recognize his role publicly. In fact, they seemed to keep it under wraps. Therefore it seems as though the blame toward Martinez — that is, assuming that he was seeking sole credit — has been misplaced for 50 years.
If Bob Miles had done his job, perhaps fewer people would have been wounded and more lives would have been spared.