AUSTIN – Wednesday marked the 52nd anniversary of the University of Texas at Austin tower shooting in which a sniper went up the tower and shot at innocent people, killing 16 and injuring 31.
The patrolman who had a hand in taking the sniper down is now recounting the events of that day in a video he uses to train others.
Now retired Texas Ranger Ramiro "Ray" Martinez shared the video with KSAT, along with his recollection of Aug. 1, 1966.
Martinez was a patrolman with the Austin Police Department 52 years ago. He was 29 years old then, and he wasn't scheduled to go into work until 3 p.m., but after hearing about the mass shooting on the University of Texas campus, he said he volunteered to go in.
"I stood right here, and I looked up there to see what was going on," Martinez said. "I could see the dead and wounded people around the area."
When Martinez got to the campus, the sniper, Charles Whitman, was firing shots from the observation deck, and police were firing back at the deck.
"Everybody was trying to do it long-range with the rifle," Martinez said. "Nobody had thought about going inside and confronting the sniper."
At the point when Martinez ran to get into to the tower, he could not tell if Whitman could see him.
"I don't know if he even saw me or if he even shot at me," Martinez said. "I started zigzagging until I got to that wall and used the wall to walk around."
As Martinez went up the tower elevator, he heard the gunshots and he prayed.
When he got up to the 27th 1/2 floor, he was joined by Allen Crum, a civilian, who climbed up to the deck with him.
"Allen Crum says, 'Where are you going?' (I answered), 'I'm going up to look for the shooter.' And he says, 'Friend, you are not going by yourself. I'm going with you. We will cover one another.' I said, 'Well, come on,'" Martinez said.
"I opened the door (to the observation deck) and I hesitated for a while, because I didn't know if he heard the clanging," Martinez said. "He might be coming around. There was a lot of fire coming up."
Crum had fired a shot into the wall, getting Whitman's attention and that's when Martinez said he opened fire.
"He was aiming that rifle," Martinez said. "I know I hit him because he was aiming ... I hit him ... and shot him at body mass."
Officer Houston McCoy had made his way to the observation deck and had also fired shots at Whitman.
"McCoy must have shot while I was shooting because I didn't hear the first shot, but when he shot the second time, I could see that he hit him and kind of spun him around," Martinez said.
Martinez then grabbed McCoy’s gun and fired another round into Whitman.
"Once that was done, I started waving the shotgun and said, 'We got him. I got him,' but the shooting continued," Martinez said.
To this day, Martinez does not call himself a "hero."
In the video, Martinez is accompanied by family members, researchers and UT police.
