The man convicted in the death of a Dallas police officer, following a pursuit in 2007, was executed Wednesday evening at the state penitentiary in Huntsville, TX.
Wesley Ruiz, who was in 2008 convicted in the death of Senior Cpl. Mark Nix, died by lethal injection after the U.S. Supreme Court earlier in the day denied his appeal.
"I would like to apologize to Mark and the Nix family for taking him away from you," Ruiz said as he was laying strapped to a gurney in the death chamber, reports Fox News. "I hope this brings you closure."
Ruiz was administered a lethal dose of pentobarbital and was pronounced dead at 6:41 p.m.
In March 2007, Ruiz led officers on a high-speed chase after being seen in a car matching the description of one used by a murder suspect. The Associated Press reports Ruiz fired one shot at Nix when the officer tried to break the vehicle’s passenger window after the chase.
According to authorities, the bullet fired by Ruiz hit Nix’s badge, sending fragments into his neck and severing an artery.
He later died at a hospital.
Nix, 33, was a U.S. Navy veteran of Operation Desert Storm and had been a Dallas police officer for nearly seven years when he was killed.
