Nearby, Mike Gabour lay slumped against the wall, with his mother lying face down in a pool of blood. Next to him lay a middle-aged woman, Marguerite Lamport. Day consoled Gabour and led him to safety before joining McCoy, Crum and Martinez as they walked up to the 27th floor.īeneath the stairwell leading to the reception area, Officer Martinez saw the body of a teenage boy, Mark Gabour. Gabour-clutching his wife’s shoes- screamed that his family had been shot and tried to wrestle the rifle from Day to shoot Whitman himself. After reaching the 26th floor by elevator, they encountered M. 39Īccompanied by 40-year-old civilian Allen Crum-whom the trio encountered as they ran toward the tower-they were the first to reach the tower’s observation deck. Both Martinez and Day had driven to the University of Texas after listening to radio reports.Time-Life Books 1993 p.

Prior to advancing upon the tower, McCoy had seen his colleague Billy Speed killed. Three officers who responded to reports of the sniper were Ramiro Martinez, Houston McCoy and Jerry Day. Whitman shot at the plane, and it moved off to circle from a greater distance. Lee tried to shoot Whitman from the plane, but the turbulence proved too great. Police sharpshooter Marion Lee reported from a small airplane that he had observed a single sniper firing from the observation deck. This action largely protected him from gunfire below, but limited his range of targets. At this point, Whitman chose to fire through waterspouts located on each side of the tower walls. One Texas Ranger used a student as spotter to help locate the sniper. Off-duty officers, Travis County Sheriff’s deputies, and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers also converged on the area.Īpproximately 20 minutes after first shooting from the observation deck, Whitman began to encounter return fire from both the police and other armed citizens. All active police officers in Austin were ordered to the campus. The shootings and news of the sniper caused panic in and around the University.

Charles whitman