Execution Report: Christopher Black

Christopher Black Sr., 43, was executed by lethal injection on 9 July 2003 in Huntsville, Texas for killing three members of his family.

On 7 February 1998, Black, then 38, went to the house in Killeen where his wife, Gwendolyn, 36, was living. He shot Gwendolyn ten to twelve times with a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol. Deidre Blackburn, a friend of Gwendolyn's, was in the house and saw Black shoot his wife. She fled to a neighbor's house after he started shooting. Black then shot his 5-month-old daughter, Christina Marie Black, once. Next, he shot his 17-month-old step granddaughter, Katrese Houston, five times in the chest. All of his victims died of their wounds. He then called 9-1-1 and told the operator that he had just killed his wife, daughter, and granddaughter. "I ran out of bullets," he said.

When police arrived, Black was unarmed and holding Christina to his chest. Katrese was slumped over in a high chair. "We approached him and he said he wasn't going to put the baby down on the cold ground," officer Eric Bradley said. "As I reached up to grab the baby from him, he said, 'I want to kiss my baby.' I said 'go ahead.'" Bradley said that as he pulled the baby toward him, he saw that she was dead.

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