Christopher Black Sr.

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.

In addition to the police report and Blackburn's testimony, the jury heard some cassette tape recordings Black had made prior to the crime. In these recordings, he stated that he was angry over the end of his marriage and that he planned to kill Gwendolyn and anyone else in the house. He also explained how he purchased a handgun the day before the murders, after he had filled out an application and waited several days for a background check. He had no prior criminal history. Black mailed the tapes to relatives so that they would receive them after the shooting.

In August 1998, a jury convicted Black of the capital murder of Katrese Houston and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence in September 2000. All of his subsequent appeals in state and federal court were denied.

On death row, Black declined to speak with reporters. He did not make a last statement at his execution. He was pronounced dead at 6:19 p.m.