#OTD in 1971 Mexican-origin people in the border city of Pharr endured a police riot, commonly called the Pharr Riots, that resulted in the killing of Alfonso Loredo Flores. To halt the “riot” the city government called in the Texas Rangers, among other police agencies. 

 Pharr had seen many instances of police violence, including in recent years. For example, Sergeant Mateo Sandoval beat two men, Manuel Mata, who received two broken ribs from his beating, and Guadalupe Salinas. These types of beatings proved common. @elprofe_Robles.   

Protests spearheaded by the Mexican American Youth Organization and other organizations followed. About 300 protestors began a picket on February 6 in front of the Pharr police station.   

They carried signs that read “más justicia y menos garrotazos (more justice and fewer clubbings)” and “no necesitamos policías salvajes (we don’t need police savages).” Pharr police dispatched the fire department to turn high pressure hoses on the young people. They responded by throwing rocks and bottles. Protestors also fled, and  as they did officers opened fire. This was terrorism, the bullets they fired were blanks.  

Pharr police called in reinforcements from the county sheriff, Texas Rangers, and the Texas Department of Public Safety. That night Deputy Sheriff Robert Johnson killed Alfonso Loredo Flores. He was an innocent bystander who had not been involved in the protest.  

Laredo Flores had been getting a haircut at the Ramos hair salon. He left to check out the disturbance. Deputy Johnson shot him in the back of the head. He died shortly thereafter. Johnson was later acquitted of negligent homicide.  

Activists termed his killing an “unjust death” and organized a thousand-person march that began in McAllen, crossed through Pharr, and end in nearby San Juan. Mayor R. S. Bowe and Police Chief Alfredo Ramirez resigned due to the protests. Texas Ranger Jack Dean was sent in during the riots. He was not involved in the police violence. He also attempted to assist Loredo Flores and called an ambulance for the wounded man. The Rangers were later tasked with investigating the disturbance. 

Dean was put in charge of the investigation, which determined that Flores probably died from a ricocheting police bullet. As opposed to previous generations of Rangers, and other Rangers like A.Y. Allee in the 1960s and 70s, Jack Dean did a decent job and acted impartially. 

The tension in Pharr took years to subside, and when it did things largely returned to the status quo. Fifty years after these events the Texas Historical Commission erected a historical marker in Pharr, in front of the Ramos hair salon.