Texas Executes Man for 1988 Killing

The 20th Execution of 2011

On June 1, 2011 Gaylord Bradford was executed by the state of Texas for shooting and killing a security guard during a 1988 robbery at a Dallas grocery store.

Bradford was the fourth person executed in Texas this year and second put to death using a new drug, pentobarbital, as part of the execution protocol. According to Reuters, Bradford died at 6:25 p.m. local time, nine minutes after the drug was administered, reported a spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

On December 28, 1988, Bradford told his girlfriend he was going to make some money, showing her a gun before he left her apartment with two other people, according to a report by the Texas attorney general's office. Later that night, he went to a grocery store and shot store security guard Brian Williams in the back. Bradford then took the guard's gun and shot him repeatedly while he was on the ground, according to the Reuters. The robbery netted $7.

Before his death, Bradford said he was at peace and that he had no worries. "Victim's family, may you be at peace also," he said. Bradford's last meal was chicken with jalapenos, peanut butter cake, butter rolls, two steak and cheese omelets, hash browns and ketchup, and a root beer soda.

To read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/02/us-execution-texas-idUSTRE75104D20110602