A Texas inmate on death row was the first person to be executed in the United States in 2026.
Charles Victor Thompson, 55, was scheduled to die on Wednesday (January 28), according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
His death via lethal injection came nearly 30 years after the fatal shooting of his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend and more than 20 years after he briefly escaped jail in 2005.
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Thompson was found guilty of the April 1998 deaths of 39-year-old Glenda Dennise Hayslip and 30-year-old Darren Keith Cain, according to the Associated Press.
Per an incident report provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, “Thompson got into an argument with a white male and white female in her apartment.”
After being escorted from her Houston-area home by police, he returned the morning of April 30 and broke down the door.
“Thompson shot the male, causing his death, and injuring the female severely enough to require life flight to the hospital. She died one week later, as a result of the shooting,” the incident report read.
His execution was scheduled for 6 p.m., per AP, and came after final appeals were denied by the Supreme Court and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.
Thompson sought forgiveness from the surviving family members of his victims in his final words, reported by AP.
In them, he expressed hope that they “can begin to heal and move past this.”
“There are no winners in this situation,” he continued, adding that his death “creates more victims and traumatizes more people 28 years later.”
“I’m sorry for what I did. I’m sorry for what happened, and I want to tell all of y’all, I love you and that keep Jesus in your life, keep Jesus first,” he said.
He was pronounced dead at 6:50 p.m., 22 minutes after receiving a lethal dose of pentobarbital.
Thompson‘s case attracted national attention in 2005 after he briefly escaped the Harris County Jail. He managed three days on the run before being re-apprehended in Shreveport, La., AP reported.
Thompson‘s was the first execution scheduled in Texas and the first to take place in the United States this year.
Per the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the state has three additional executions scheduled through the May 14, 2026 execution of Edward Busby. Last year, five inmates were executed.