Houston McCoy

Houston McCoy was a police officer in Austin Texas who shot Charles Whitman Jr., a man who had just 18 innocent people.

Scholars would later identify McCoy as one of the first police officers to describe shooting someone who seemed to want to die - a phenomenon now known as suicide by cop

Serial killers and spree killers were not a recognized threat in 1966, when the shooting occurred, and Austin police lacked both the training and equipment to respond. Scholars who documented the creation of SWAT teams have written about McCoy and Raymond Ramirez's lack of training and equipment as one of the triggers for the creation of SWAT teams.

Scholars have also identified McCoy as one of the earliest diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Early life

McCoy was born in Menard, Texas.

he attended Menard High School where he was active in sports and named "Class Favorite" and "Best All Around Boy".