Execution Report: Kenneth Mosley

Kenneth Mosley, 51, was executed by lethal injection on 7 January 2010 in Huntsville, Texas for killing a police officer in a bank.

On 15 February 1997, Mosley, then 38, entered a bank in Garland. One of the tellers recognized him from a previous robbery at the bank. The teller informed her manager. After the manager saw Mosley, he also recognized him from tapes of the other robbery. The manager returned to her office, pushed the alarm button, and called bank security and 9-1-1.

The manager then went outside and met police officer David Moore, who responded to the emergency call, and described Mosley to him. Moore, who was in uniform, then went inside, approached Mosley, and asked to speak with him. Moore struggled with Mosley, who refused to keep his hands still. Mosley then pulled a 9mm pistol from underneath his shirt. Several shots were fired. Officer Moore then shoved Mosley through a window. Both men fell to the ground into one of the drive-through lanes. Mosley then stood up and shot Moore while he was still on the ground.

As Mosley was walking away from the bank, a second officer spotted him and ordered him to drop his gun and get on the ground. When Mosley turned toward the officer, the officer shot him once in the wrist. Mosley dropped the gun, then complied with the officer's orders. When searching him, authorities found a holdup note.

Paramedics arrived at the scene within minutes, but Officer Moore was already dead. He had been shot four times. One bullet struck him over the top edge of his protective vest.

At Mosley's trial, a witnesses testified that after the two men fell through the window, he saw Mosley pause to look around, point the gun at Moore, and shoot him.

Mosley claimed that he walked into the bank unaware that he had a gun in his pocket. When Officer Moore asked him what was in his hand, Mosley remembered the gun and pulled it out only to "get rid of it". In the ensuing struggle, he shot the officer.

"I wasn't pulling it out thinking anything would happen," he said.

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