A Sniper in the Tower (61 page)

Read A Sniper in the Tower Online

Authors: Gary M. Lavergne

Tags: #History, #United States, #General, #State & Local, #Southwest (AZ; NM; OK; TX), #True Crime, #Murder, #test

BOOK: A Sniper in the Tower
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13 APD Files:
SOR
by Marion Lee, 1 August 1966; Time-Life, p. 38;
Austin American-Statesman
, 1 August 1986.
14 Jim Boutwell quoted in
Dallas Morning News
, 1 August 1986;
Austin American-Statesman
, 7 August 1966, 1 August 1986;
Daily Texan
, 1 August 1991;
Texas Monthly
, August, 1986.
 
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14
The White Headband
Telling the story takes longer than it took to do it. I'm not talking about minutes; I'm talking about seconds.
Houston McCoy
I
After Ramiro Martinez knocked down the dolly Whitman had wedged outside the door, the men on the twenty-eighth floor stared at the windows and listened carefully. They could hear shots coming from the northwest corner, but each of them knew that at any moment someone could appear at the window. Each of Martinez's raps on the door produced noises that the others
 
Page 210
thought would surely get the attention of the sniper. Every "bang" caused McCoy, Crum and Day to grasp their rifles a little tighter and to look a little closer. "God damn! He's making a lot of noise," McCoy thought.
1
Each of them had seen what the sniper was capable of doing. Outside the Tower they had seen bodies shot from incredibly long distances; inside they had seen what Whitman had done at close range: Edna, Mark, Marguerite, Mary, and Mike.
Ramiro Martinez never hesitated. Armed only with a 38 revolver, he walked through the glass-paneled door and out onto the deck. For the first time in over ninety minutes Charles Whitman had companycompany he must have known would arrive eventually. Although Martinez made a considerable amount of noise getting the glass-paneled door to open, Whitman may have heard nothing. The return fire on the west side was fierce and Whitman had tuned his radio, with the volume as high as it could go, to Neal Spelce's broadcast on KTBC. It is even possible that Whitman had lingered on the west side in order to hear some part of the radio broadcast, unknowingly allowing Martinez, Crum, and McCoy time to enter the deck undetected. The news reports Whitman would have heard by that time probably pleased him.
On his hands and knees, and with his pistol in his right hand, Officer Martinez crawled around the southeast corner and headed north. Crum, clutching the rifle that had been handed to him by W. A. Cowan, stood at the door. At different moments both Martinez and McCoy had told Crum to watch the southwest corner and to shoot anything that came that way. Almost immediately after Martinez turned the first corner, Crum told McCoy, "Your fellow officer . . . might need your help." For the second time in a matter of seconds McCoy thought he had better hurry. Things were happening faster than he wanted. But it was too late; Martinez was already headed for the northeast corner towards the sniper. And indeed, McCoy did want to help his fellow officer.
2
After rounding the first corner, the two officers were on the east side. Phillip Conner then entered the reception area and covered the west window. Jerry Day stepped outside and joined Allen Crum. While Day watched the southwest corner, intending to shoot anyone who should show up there, Crum noticed a pump rifle on the floor of the deck. He retrieved the weapon and immediately noticed
 
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that the gun itself had been shot and made inoperable; Lt. Bert Gerding had shot Whitman's gun off the ledge.
Whitman, near the northwest corner, decided to change his position, as he had done almost continuously since walking through the glass-paneled door. He ran from the northwest corner along the west towards the southwest corner. If his plan had been carried out, Whitman would have exposed himself to Phillip Conner, still inside the reception area guarding the west window and waiting to shoot anyone who came into view. There must have been a lull in both the ground fire and the radio broadcast because, miraculously, Crum heard the crunching of bits of limestone beneath Whitman's sneakers as he ran in a southerly direction. Crum also heard yelling, which he thought must have been the sniper. Much like Conner, Day and Crum waited, determined to shoot anyone who came around that corner. Before Whitman reached Conner's window, Crum, unfamiliar with the rifle he had been handed, fired a round into the interior southwestern corner of the parapet. Conner later remembered that Crum's shot "scared the shit out of Jerry Day." He also remembered Crum clumsily trying to ready his rifle for another shot. Luckily, Whitman immediately turned and headed back towards the northwest corner.
3
Years later, when describing Houston McCoy, Ramiro Martinez would say, "He's a tall boy." McCoy stood erect as he rounded the corner onto the east side of the deck. As Martinez crawled to the right and saw McCoy coming up from behind, he waved his hand as if to plead with McCoy to stay low. It was good advice. As McCoy would later remember, "Three million splats reminded me that we still had ground fire." He got down, but barely. He bent his knees slightly but otherwise stayed erect. Still not certain that there was only one sniper, McCoy kept his eye on the columns abovejust in case. He also wanted to be in a position to fire over Martinez if that became necessary.
In spite of his low position, Martinez was still vulnerable. The most accurate return fire came from the east side of the Tower where officers like Nolan Meinardus had nearly shot Whitman through a porthole. Also, return fire from that area came from higher vantage points than from the south and west sides. As Martinez reached the rain spouts, he scooted to avoid incoming fire. McCoy, not wanting
 
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to get shot in the foot, did the same. He saw at least one round from the ground funnel through a spout and hit the wall between Martinez and himself.
4
Other dangers surrounded the officers. The clocks on each of the inside walls of the deck jutted out and created blind spots. In fact, Martinez and McCoy could not see large portions of the east side of the deck. A sniper could have been on the other side of the clock. More than once it entered McCoy's mind that maybe Mike Gabour was wrong. Maybe he had seen only one of many snipers.
No safe way existed to end the madness. Martinez wanted McCoy to get down; McCoy wanted Martinez to get into a better firing position. Neither had time to realize that they actually complemented each other quite well, although not as the result of any plan or considered thought. As Chief Miles later described, their operation resulted from individual actions. After Crum fired into the parapet, Whitman retreated to the northwest corner, knowing he was no longer alone on the deck. Assuming a defensive position, he sat with his back against the north wall of that corner. He bent his legs enough to rest his carbine on one of his knees, aiming for the southwest corner. Since Crum had fired from that area, Whitman apparently believed that an attack from that direction was imminent. He waited.
McCoy continually checked a red button near the trigger of his shotgun to see if it was off safety. He experienced odd flashing thoughts of Ruth and his boys. As Martinez continued to crawl, McCoy aimed over his head toward the northeast corner. The bullets of well-meaning police and civilians ''zinged" by. Martinez had reached the northeast corner, but because of the clock portion of the north wall that jutted out, he needed to move away from the corner, well out into the view of the sniper. Whitman, still seated in the northwest corner, with his back against the north wall, fixed his sights towards the south. Martinez thought immediately of Crum. Had he left his position? Was the sniper ready to shoot Crum? Without looking at McCoy, Martinez leveled his revolver and began to shoot towards Whitman as fast as he could. He later remembered being on his knees, but McCoy called the shooting position a "cheerleaders's split."
5
McCoy and Martinez agree though, that the shots were "Pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow" as fast as you can say it. Reports
 
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conflict as to whether Martinez fired all six rounds in his revolver before McCoy turned the corner, but given the obvious rapidity of the firing, it is likely. From the corner Whitman turned his head to the left, clearly seeing Martinez firing at him. He tried desperately to wheel the carbine in that direction to return the fire, but for some reason he could not bring the rifle down. Instead, he uncharacteristically shot wildly into the air. Martinez saw fiery flashes spurting from the gun. Then Whitman saw McCoy turn the corner. After watching Martinez fire, McCoy had some idea where the sniper was and in what general direction to aim. From a better firing position and with a more appropriate weapon, McCoy leveled and aimed for the first and most obvious target he could see on the sniperthe white headband.
For a split second Whitman and McCoy eye-balled each other. McCoy fired the 12-gauge loaded with 00 buckshot and sent nine pellets toward the sniper.
6
They hit Whitman on a flat plane across both eyes and through the top of the nose, only an inch or so below the white headband. Whitman's blue eyes were gone. Then like an inverted pendulum, Whitman's head sprung back and to the right. McCoy instantly chambered another shell and fired again, this time hitting the left side of Whitman's head. The force of the second shot caused the sniper to slump even more. In an instant the white headband turned red.
Still holding the carbine, Whitman's large body twitched in a
danse macabre
. McCoy jacked in another shell and again looked above for more snipers. Martinez, still in a low firing position, threw his empty pistol to the floor, reached up with his left hand, and grabbed the shotgun out of McCoy's grasp. Stunned, McCoy let go and grabbed his revolver as Martinez ran towards Whitman. Controlled by adrenalin, he screamed as he ran towards the flopping body. McCoy later called it a "war cry." Martinez fired nearly point blank into Whitman's upper left arm, nearly blowing it off. Pellets destroyed the humerus before entering Whitman's chest. This third shotgun blast lifted Whitman's body several inches off the floor and away from the wall. He lay flat on his back with both arms above his head. At 1:24
P.M.
, the Eagle-Scout-turned-mass murderer lay dead on the red tiled floor of the observation deck.
7

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