Ramiro Gonzales was executed by lethal injection more than 20 years after he kidnapped, raped and killed 18-year-old Bridget Townsend.
Texas death row inmate Ramiro Gonzales was executed by lethal injection Wednesday, despite numerous appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court, for the 2001 murder and rape of a teenage woman. Gonzales was pronounced dead at 6:50 p.m. following a chemical injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. His execution comes after he admitted to fatally shooting 18-year-old Bridget Townsend, a southwest Texas woman whose remains were found nearly two years after she vanished in 2001.
In a statement released by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Gonzales repeatedly apologized to the victim’s family from the execution chamber. 'I can’t put into words the pain I have caused y’all, the hurt, what I took away that I cannot give back. I hope this apology is enough,' he said. 'I never stopped praying that you would forgive me and that one day I would have this opportunity to apologize.
We have finally witnessed justice being served,' Townsend’s brother, David, said after watching the execution. 'This day marks the end of a long and painful journey for our family. For over two decades, we have endured unimaginable pain and heartache.' David said Gonzales’ death 'provides us a little bit of peace. I do want to say we are not joyous, we are not happy. This is a very, very sad day for everyone all the way around.
Gonzales’ execution was the second this year in Texas and the eighth in the U.S. On Thursday, Oklahoma is scheduled to execute Richard Rojem for the 1984 abduction, rape and killing of a 7-year-old girl. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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