Washington - John Allen Muhammad, who masterminded the 2002 Washington sniper killings, was put to death by lethal injection, a Virginia state prison spokesman said. Muhammad, who died late Tuesday, and his then-17-year-old accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, armed themselves with a sniper rifle and went about shooting people at random in Washington and its Virginia and Maryland suburbs. They shot at least 16 people, killing 10, in October 2002.
Muhammad's sentence was carried out at Greensville Correctional Centre in Jarratt, Virginia. The 48-year-old wore a denim shirt and blue jeans with prison-issue thong sandals and was declared dead at 9:11 pm (0211 GMT Wednesday), four minutes after taking his last breath while strapped to a gurney.
One execution witness described Muhammad in the death chamber as "clean-shaven, calm." He was impassive in his last minutes, giving no last words and staring at the ceiling, the witness said.
Malvo is serving a sentence of life in prison without parole after a jury refused to agree to his death.
The duo's random killings terrorized people in the US capital for weeks.
The biggest death toll came at the start of their spree on October 2-3, 2002, when Muhammad and Malvo shot and killed six people.
Muhammad had indoctrinated, trained and armed Malvo with a rifle. He drove their blue car with Malvo hiding in the boot, targeting victims through a hole drilled in the lid.
Sarah Ramos, 34, was slain on October 3 while sitting on a bench outside a shopping centre in Silver Spring, Maryland. Dean Meyers, 53, was killed October 9 while refuelling at a petrol station in Manassas, Virginia. Others were shot outside liquor stores or simply waiting to cross the street.
Muhammad, 41, at the time of the shootings, was sentenced in 2004.
He was put to death in front of 27 witnesses, including several relatives of the victims.
Muhammad's appeals lawyers attempted to get him a last-minute stay of execution. The US Supreme Court rejected an appeal Monday, and Virginia Governor Timothy Kaine declined to spare his life.
Muhammad had insisted on representing himself at trial. Peter Greenspun, who was part of the condemned prisoner's post-trial appeals team, told the broadcaster CNN after the execution that Muhammad was a "very challenged and mentally ill individual."
Authorities said they believe that before reaching Washington, the snipers took the lives of at least six other people during a cross-country killing spree that began in their homestate of Washington in the Pacific North-West.
Paul Ebert, who led the prosecution in Muhammad's case, said he felt "a sense of relief and closure" although he described the execution as "anti- climactic."
Muhammad and Malvo were eventually captured on October 24 as they slept in their car at a highway rest stop in Maryland.
