John Allen Muhammad, the mastermind behind sniper attacks that left 10 dead in October 2002, was executed as relatives of the victims watched on Tuesday, reliving the killing spree that terrorized the Washington area for three weeks.
Muhammad, 48, looked calm and stoic, but twitched, blinked and tapped his left foot as the injections began, defiant to the end, refusing to utter any final words. Victims’ families watched from behind a glass wall, separated from the rest of the 27 witnesses, who were quiet, looking straight forward, intent on what was happening.
“He died very peacefully, much more than most of his victims,” said Prince William County prosecutor Paul Ebert, who witnessed Muhammad die by injection at 9:11pm on Tuesday at Greensville Correctional Center, south of Richmond.
Muhammad was executed for killing Dean Harold Meyers, who was shot in the head at a Manassas gas station during the three-week spree across Maryland, Virginia and Washington.
The shootings terrorized the Washington region as victim after victim was shot down while doing everyday chores: shopping, pumping gas, mowing the lawn. One child was shot while walking into his middle school.
People stayed indoors. Those who had to go outside weaved as they walked or bobbed their heads to make themselves a less easy target.
The terror ended on Oct. 24, 2002, when police captured Muhammad and his teenage accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, while they slept at a Maryland rest stop in a car they had outfitted for a shooter to perch in its trunk without being detected.
Malvo, who was 17 when carrying out the attacks, was sentenced to life in prison without parole for killing Linda Franklin, a 47-year-old FBI analyst who was shot as she and her husband loaded supplies at a Home Depot in Falls Church, Virginia.
The men also were suspected of fatal shootings in other states, including Louisiana, Alabama and Arizona.
Muhammad never testified or explained why he directed the shootings, and his secrets died with him.
“I would have liked him at some point in the process to take responsibility, to show remorse,” Meyers’ brother, Bob Meyers, said. “We didn’t get any of that tonight.”
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