Houston McCoy

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Houston McCoy on the occasion of convening a grand jury to investigate the Charles Whitman shootings: 05 August 1966.

Houston McCoy and Ramiro Martinez are the two Austin Police Department officers credited by the media with killing sniper Charles Whitman at the University of Texas at Austin on August 1, 1966.

While Austin Police officer Jerry Day and deputized University Co-op employee Allen Crum followed McCoy and Martinez to the observation deck, Martinez and McCoy went out on the observation deck, with a .38 revolver and a shotgun, respectively, and proceeded to the north-east corner of the deck; they spotted Whitman seated on the floor of the north-west corner watching the south-west corner for any signs of police.

Which of the officers actually killed Whitman has been disputed as both later claimed that they had been the one to kill him, (Martinez immediately, and McCoy ten years later, after the movie the "The Deadly Tower" was shown). McCoy fired his shotgun twice^[1]^[2] as Martinez was firing six rounds from his revolver, pinning Whitman in his position. McCoy's shots hit Whitman between the eyes, the left shoulder and left chest regions. Martinez then grabbed the shotgun and ran to the body of Whitman and fired the shotgun point-blank into Whitman's left arm.^[3] In his statement made four hours after the attacks, McCoy stated that he heard the sound of a gunshot come from the area where he later saw the sniper.^[4]

[edit] After the event

After the events, McCoy left the police force and worked as a flight instructor.^[5] In October 1974, he became the camp ranger for a Boy Scout camp called Camp Sol Mayer near Fort McKavett State Historic Site.^[6]He served as camp ranger until 1986.^[7]

McCoy filed a Defamation of Character lawsuit against TNT in the early 1990s for showing the film, "The Deadly Tower" which did include his character as a lanky, cowardly officer with a shotgun who did not fire on Whitman, but his attorneys were not successful.^[8]^[9] An August 2006 story in The Daily Texan recounted McCoy's reaction to the 1975 film.^[5]

In 1998, McCoy was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder by a Veterans Affairs psychologist.^[2]^[10]An attempt to get $2160, plus treatment for his PTSD, in a Worker's Compensation Award from the State of Texas was blocked by the City of Austin's Attorneys. The City of Austin sued McCoy in order to deny McCoy the Award, in part because of the length of time (30 years) between the original incident and the filing. A spokesperson for the Commission stated that there was no Statute of Limitations as the City suggested.^[11]

On December 12, 2006, a Travis County Court Commission hearing was held after protests by members of Houston McCoys family, other police officers and family members including the widow of George Shephard, who were on the tower. The widow of Officer Billy speed who was killed on the campus on August 1, 1966 also spoke. The speech was written and edited to the issue of naming a Police Precinct Building after Ramiro Martinez only. The video and transcript can be found here [1]. The Commission is still considering the testimony for appropriate action(s).