When the shooting stopped , nineteen civilians had been killed or mortally wounded . Over two hundred others were badly wounded . Many were shot in their backs while running away , including a seven-year-old girl named Georgina Maldonado who was " killed through the back while running to a nearby church . " The US commissioned an independent investigation headed by Arthur Garfield Hays , general counsel of the American Civil Liberties Union , together with prominent citizens of Puerto Rico . The members concluded in their report that the event was a massacre , with the police acting as a mob . They harshly criticized Winship 's actions as governor and said he had numerous abuses of civil rights . The event has since been known as the Ponce massacre . It was the largest massacre in Puerto Rican history . As a result of this report and other charges against Winship , he was dismissed from his position in 1937 and replaced as governor
Ponce massacre
Ponce massacre
Ponce, Puerto Rico