However, Martinez shares his thoughts on the differences in responses. ![]() The two incidents are separated by decades and involve different circumstances, like weapons. KPRC 2 Investigates Mario Diaz also asked Martinez for his perspective on the Robb Elementary school shooting in Uvalde on May 24, 2022. Martinez took quick action to stop the shooting that day 56 years ago. “My thanks are never-ending for him stopping the situation that could have led to much more destruction and death than what we experienced,” said Littlefield. “He wanted the carnage to stop,” said Littlefield.Īdrian Littlefield was a 19-year-old newlywed that day. Related: The KPRC2 team was in Austin for the 50th anniversary of the attack - for the dedication of a memorial near the tower.įourteen dead, 31 injured, and Martinez ended the 96 minutes of terror. ![]() But at the end of that blur, is the realization that you just killed. “So, I fired one more round,” said Martinez. At 1:24 p.m., he was gunned down himself. I was hitting him and then I was hollering at McCoy to shoot and McCoy finally shot and hit him with a shotgun,” said Martinez. on August 1, 1966, Charles Whitman began firing his rifle from the top of the University of Texas Tower at anyone and everyone in his sights. Seconds later, another officer named Houston McCoy showed up to help. “As long as I stayed below that ledge, around the walkway, I was going to be okay.” They’d crack like that, you know,” said Martinez. Returning home, he killed his wife at about 3:00 am on August 1, stabbing her as she slept. Among other things he wrote: After noting that he planned to kill his wife, he wrote: Sometime after midnight, Whitman went to his mother’s apartment, where he took her life. Backup arrived just as Martinez was about to take actionĪs Martinez searched the tower, other people on the ground attempted to take out the sniper. Texas Tower shooting of 1966 - Massacre, Gunman, Victims: At 6:45 pm on July 31, 1966, Whitman began typing a suicide note. Martinez then took off to look for the sniper. ![]() Martinez says when they got to the top of the tower, he told the man to take aim in case Whitman turned the corner. And I said, ‘You damn right we are,’” said Martinez. “He said, ‘Are we playing for keeps?’ And I looked at him and that’s when I realized that he was a civilian. “He said, ‘let me have your gun, I’ll go kill that SOB up there, he killed my family.’”īy that point, another man raced up the tower and joined Martinez on his mission. “There was a man that came out and he had a white pair of woman shoes in his hands, and there was blood on them,” said Martinez. (Copyright 2021 by KPRC Click2Houston - All rights reserved.) Ramiro Martinez is the man who took down the sniper shooting people from the clock tower in Austin 56 years ago.
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