John Allen Muhammad, DC Sniper, Executed Last Night

Ok, so I know that this isn't really celeb news, but bear with me. For those of yall who don't know, I am from Maryland and I felt the need to write about the execution of John Allen Muhammad, one of the DC Snipers that gunned down 10 people and critically injured three in the Washington Metropolitan area.

In October 2002, Muhammad and his then 17-year-old stepson Lee Boyd Malvo began a terror spree in our area, shooting and killing people at random. I cannot begin to tell you how scary it was. I mean, crime can happen anywhere, but it was scary pulling into a gas station or a parking lot at the grocery store during that time. I remember always ducking down in the car at a gas station and telling my mom to hurry up and finish pumping the gas so we could go. Events at my school (and at schools all around my area) got canceled because of the fear that these guys were out there, waiting to strike.

Yesterday, November 10, 2009, John Allen Muhammad was executed by lethal injection at the Greenville Correctional Center in Virginia. He was declared dead at 9:11 p.m. Malvo, his accomplice, is serving a life sentence without parole.

I really don't know how to feel. I watched reports last night and all I could say was wow. I knew the execution was coming, but it happened for real last night, and all I could say was wow. I'm not a fan of the death penalty, not because of "the value of life" that everyone talks about. You know, how one shouldn't be able to take away somebody's life. I just think that the death penalty is an easy way out for criminals. Others may disagree, but I feel that in death, you no longer have to really deal with the crime you committed. In jail, you have no choice but to sit and think about the consequences of your actions. However, what's done is done.

Representatives from the victims' families sat and watched while he was executed. From reports I've read, the family members were happy about the execution, and some even felt that Malvo should've been executed as well. However, since he was a minor when the crimes were committed, Malvo was sentenced to life. I pray for the families at this difficult time.

Listed below are the victims of the Sniper Attacks. Rest in Peace to those who were lost.

Killed:

* James Martin
* James Buchanan
* Premkumar Walekar
* Sarah Ramos
* Lori Ann-Lewis Rivera
* Pascal Charlot
* Dean Harold Meyers
* Kenneth Bridges
* Linda Franklin
* Conrad Johnson

Wounded:

* Caroline Seawell
* Iran Brown
* Jeffrey Hopper

PEACE.

~Brittany Shawnté