John Allen Muhammad Executed for 2002 Beltway Killing Spree

"D.C. sniper" John Allen Muhammad was put to death by lethal injection Tuesday evening in Virginia for the 2002 killings of 10 people around the D.C. area. Muhammad maintained his innocence until the end, but declined his opportunity to make a final statement. He accepted the customary final meal and spent his last hours with immediate family members. Muhammad was administered lethal drugs at 9:06 p.m. and pronounced dead five minutes later, according to the Washington Post.

Seven years ago, Muhammad directed what law enforcement officials consider one of the worst crime sprees in American history, terrifying the D.C.-Virginia-Maryland region for three weeks as he gunned down victims at gas stations, malls and on their own front lawns. Assisted by an accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, Muhammad killed his victims with a single rifle shot fired from a small hole in the trunk of his car. The pair left a series of cryptic notes and demands for money before they were eventually captured.

Despite hours of testimony from scores of witnesses, police never identified a clear motive for the shooting spree and could never say authoritatively which one of the two men fired the shots. Muhammad's ex-wife speculated that he might have devised the attacks as a way to terrorize or eventually kill her.

Prosecutors relied on an untested Virginia terrorism law that allowed them to prosecute Muhammad without knowing for sure if he fired the shots. The Supreme Court denied Muhammad's final request for a stay on Monday, and Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine rejected his request for clemency on Tuesday. Lee Boyd Malvo is serving a life sentence without parole.