NATION : Killer Ronald Woomer Executed in South Carolina Electric Chair

Ronald (Rusty) Woomer, who killed four people during a 1979 crime spree along the South Carolina coast, was executed early today in the state’s electric chair.

Woomer, 35, of Huntington, W. Va., was pronounced dead at 1:12 a.m. at Broad River Correctional Center.

The condemned man exchanged final words with his relatives before his walk to the electric chair and said he was ready to die at the appointed hour if that would comfort the families of his victims.

“I just want the pain and suffering to end for them, and if the Lord sees fit to end that by me going in there and sitting down in the electric chair, whatever he says is good enough for me,” said Woomer, who wept at times during a 30-minute interview at the facility.

Woomer was the 122nd person to be executed in the United States, and the third in South Carolina, since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976.

Among the witnesses to the execution was Don Sellers, the husband of one of the victims, who said he would not be satisfied until he saw Woomer slumped in the electric chair. “I feel like I’ve had my life on hold for 11 years,” he said.