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The Death of Ricardo Falcon
| The death of one of Colorado’s most promising young leaders stunned the Colorado LRUP delegation. Ricardo Falcon was killed on August 30, while en route to the El Paso preconvention meeting. Falcon was a popular activist who had been involved with the Boulder chapter of UMAS since its 1968 inception. He was especially active in rural northeastern Colorado, but traveled throughout the state, bridging the gap between campus and community activism. He was an adept organizer, whether working with youth or adults, rural or urban activists, intellectuals or working people, and was a fiery speaker with an equally fiery temper. The car with Falcon stopped repeatedly in the New Mexico desert as its radiator leaked and overheated. Its riders urged those in the other vehicle to proceed to El Paso so the Colorado LRUP would be represented at the meeting. They would arrive later. The two-car caravan separated near Alamogordo, New Mexico, the lead car passing quickly through Orogrande,New Mexico, to El Paso. The other vehicle stopped in Orogrande to fill the radiator at a filling station owned by Perry Brunson. Brunson was a member of the American Independent Party, founded by the segregationist presidential candidate George Wallace. Brunson told the group not to spray water over the radiator to cool it-he reportedly wanted to charge for the water. Falcon argued with Brunson and followed him into the office, where their argument turned violent. Four shots were heard, and Falcon’s close friend, Florencio Granado, entered the office, where he found the two struggling on the floor. Granado told Falcon to go to the car. Falcon stood up, took a few steps, and fell. He had been shot twice in the chest and died at the scene. His death deprived Colorado of one of its most effective young organizers. His killer was tried for manslaughter and acquitted. The Colorado Chicano movement had its first martyr. He would not be the last. |
The October 1972 El Gallo printed a two-page article on Falcon’s death, criticizing the grand jury that indicted Brunson for manslaughter, not murder, and further criticizing District Attorney, Norman Bloom, who knew Brunson and frequented his filling station. El Gallo stated that a special prosecutor should have been brought in, citing a press release that revealed that the Office Cunningham who arrested Brunson was his neighbor and a fellow member of the American Independent Party. The O’Brian who performed the autopsy was also Brunson’s doctor. District Attorney Bloom insisted that there were no racial overtones in the killing, even though Brunson admitted calling Falcon derogatory names. Ironically, the El Gallo issue that covered Falcon’s death has pictures of three young men who would die before the 1970s were over: Mike Licon, Martin Serna, and Florencio "Freddy" Granado, the friend who witnessed Falcon’s death in Orogrande.
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