One
of the saddest days in Texas history occurred August 1, 1966.
shaken off-duty
policeman shot him dead atop the 27-story University of Texas
tower. Charles
J. Whitman, a 24 year-old architectural engineering student who
once rejected psychiatric help, climbed to a ledge near the top of
the 307-foot tower and calmly stalked scores of summer students,
professors and visitors to the rolling green campus. Shortly
before the tower's clock struck noon, the first shot rang out. For
the next hour and 20 minutes, the lazy summer campus was turned
into a hellish battleground of dead, dying and wounded. When
it was all over, 16 were dead — including Whitman — and 30
others were wounded. The
noontime terror ended when patrolman Ramiro Martinez slowly edged
his way around the observation platform and pumped six pistol
slugs and a shotgun blast into the sniper, a Texas junior with a B
average. Soon
after Whitman's blood-covered and limp body was carried from the
tower, police found the young man's wife and mother. The wife,
Kathleen, 23, was stabbed to death in the Whitman apartment. His
mother, Mrs. C.M. Whitman was shot to death in her home. Whitman,
an ex-marine, ex-alter boy, ex-Eagle Scout, left three notes, one
a rambling two-page letter which said his mother would be better
off in heaven and that he hated his father "with a mortal
passion." Police
also found a camera with a note which read: "Please have the
film developed, Charles Whitman." The film was sent to Dallas
for processing. Police
Chief R.A. (Bob) Miles gave this version of the last day of
Whitman's life. Sometime
before 3 a.m., Monday he stabbed his wife to death and shot his
mother to death. "Wife and mother both dead," he noted
in one of his letters. Some
six hours later he purchased a 12-gauge shotgun on a time payment
plan, carried it home, cut off its stock and sawed off its barrel.
At the same time, he assembled an arsenal that included two Luger
pistols, a 6.1mm rifle with a telescopic sight, a 35-caliber
rifle, a 30.06 rifle, a 357 magnum pistol, the new shotgun and
three knifes. He
packed everything in a footlocker. Then he put away some water in
a container, some gasoline, some sandwiches. And late Monday
morning he lugged the entire thing to the campus tower, using a
dolly to make the last part of the trip to the elevator. Getting
off at the last stop, Whitman dragged his footlocker off the
elevator and hauled it, step by step, up a long flight of stairs.
The first killing occurred here. A
woman elevator attendant whose job it is to greet visitors and
have them sign a register blocked the sniper's way. He shot her
dead. He than came upon a woman and two children, tourists
visiting the campus landmark, and shot them down. The father
escaped to a nearby room. Two
unarmed campus security guards, hearing the shots' report, entered
the building and took the elevator to the top. They found three
bodies and quickly descended to warn others to stay away from the
tower. City
police were alerted and the siege was on — a desperate,
nightmarish encounter between a small army of law officers and a
single, well-armed man who held the strategic heights. A
shot rang out. A bicycle rider careened crazily in the midday sun.
Then he and the bike fell over. More
shots. People fell like soldiers. More bullets rained down. A
little boy, also on a bicycle, fell dead. Three bodies lay
together. Rescuers could not reach them. Police
officer Billy Speed crouched near the tower and a bullet ripped
into his shoulder, "Oh, I'm hit," he cried out, slumping
over. He later died. A
student walking from class fell. Then another and another. Many
lay where they fell. No one could get near. One
of the city policemen hugging the ground was Ramiro Martinez, 29,
who had been cooking a steak at his home a few minutes before and
contemplating his duty shift to begin in three hours. With
officer Houston McCoy and Allen Crum, a university employee,
Martinez got to the top, making his way past four bodies sprawled
on the stairs and the landing. He
and Crum edged around opposite sides of the observation walkway.
The sniper saw Crum and fired. Martinez emptied his service
revolver into the sniper's body. McCoy burst on the scene and
fired a shotgun blast. Martinez grabbed the shotgun and fired
another blast pointblank at the sniper. Shaking
with shock, Martinez grabbed a green flag and waved it. The siege
was over.
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