Any discussion of the history of mass murder has to include the Texas Tower incident. On August 1, 1966, Charles Whitman opened fire on the citizens of Austin from a clock tower putting him more than 300 feet high. He was armed with several firearms, but did most of his killing with a scoped, bolt-action Remington 6mm rifle. Whitman killed 14 people and wounded another 31 before dying in a hail of gunfire atop the tower. Shortly before, he had murdered his mother and his wife. Whitman faced three armed men in his last moment on earth. One was an armed citizen named Alan Crum, who knew the inside of the structure and had led three Austin cops to the roof of the tower. The officers who finally shot Whitman down were Houston McCoy and Ramiro Martinez. The third cop, Jerry Day, led survivors they had among Whitman’s dead victims in the tower down to safety.

Martinez went on to become a state narcotics officer and a Texas Ranger, enforcing the law until the early 1990s. I recently came across his autobiography, They Call Me Ranger Ray. He is modest about his own accomplishments that terrible day, and his insight into what happened is important.

There's more from Massad Ayoob in the Nov/Dec issue...

• Armed Citizens
• Armed Citizen Back-Up

Order your copy of the Nov/Dec issue
and get more Cop Talk!

Order Your Nov/Dec Issue Here