A man in Oklahoma used his last explanation on Thursday to beg from a woman he shot 20 years ago in a house invasion and theft who took her best friend's life.
Wendell Arden Grissom, 56, shot his way to the house of Dreu Kopf in Watong on November 3, 2005 and shot her best friend, Amber Matthews, 23, fatally while trying to protect the two young daughters of Kopf.
Grissom did not know any of the two women and is supposed to have randomly aimed the house.
He was later convicted of murder in the first degree, shooting with the intention of killing, big Larceny and possession of a firearm after the earlier conviction of a crime and was sentenced to death according to the Oklahoman.
As his execution date was approached, Grissom did not look for emergencies in court and did not speak during a hearing in February.
Then, while he went on the Gurney with an IV line that was applied to his left arm on Thursday, Grissom asked for forgiveness.
“I apologize to all of you that I hurt,” he said in his last comments. “I am so sorry that I put that hatred in your heart for me.”
Grissom also noted that on the fatal day he was under the influence of drugs and alcohol.
Wendell Arden Grissom, 56, was performed on Thursday by fatal injection in Oklahoma
The now adult daughters of Kopf joined her on Thursday
“It's still my fault,” the convicted murderer admitted. “I am not who I made myself look like one day.”
He added that he knows that he does not deserve forgiveness, but prayed that “you can all forgive, not because of me – because of you.”
That, he said, “is the only way you will find God in this.”
But Kopf, who kept an eye on the execution with her now adult daughters, said that the apology 'too late' came.
“I had eight bullet holes in my body and there are still bullets in me,” she told reporters after the death of Grissom.
“I was always scared. If someone were to be right on the door, I would call 911 … I would go to Walmart and a man would walk with a backpack and I thought … there would be another shooting. I constantly lived fear. '
Her daughter, Rylee, who is now 20, also said she thought that the death of Grissom 'long' long '.
Matthews had visited her friend, Dreu Kopf, and her two young daughters on November 3, 2005 – and died in an attempt to protect the young girls (Picture Credit: Oklahoma Office of the Attorney General)
He was convicted of murder in the first degree, shooting with the intention of killing, big Larceny and possession of a firearm after the earlier conviction of a crime in the death of Amber Matthews, 23 (photo) of November 2005
She had told USA Today how she looked while her mother suffered in the years after the shooting.
“My mother would probably call my father 100 times a day and ask when he will be at home and if he couldn't answer her, she would call back,” Rylee said. “She didn't want to be home alone.”
Other family members described how she was 'paralyzed by fear' after the shooting of November 3, 2005.
Justice officers said that Grissom – who had a long criminal record – picked up a homeless Hitchhiker with the name Jessie Johns two days earlier.
They drank whiskey during the ride and discussed plans to raid or burglaries, reports the Oklahoman.
When they approached Wantoga, the duo randomly selected Kopf's house – where Matthews was visiting.
Grissom initially asked Kopf if her husband was inside, but then shot herself through the sliding glass door to the house – laughing while he fired his weapon, according to judicial documents.
Grissom and a lifter he picked up, Jessie Johns, were arrested after he had taken a ride to a cafe in a nearby province
Kopf tried to fight him off and jumped on him while Matthews fled with headf's then five weeks old daughter, Gracie, in a room where her 19-month-old, Rylee, slept.
Kopf was shot in the wrist, hand, shoulder, head and hip before she succeeded in escaping in an attempt to mark help in the truck of the shooter.
While she fled, Kopf said she heard Matthews shout, “Please don't shoot me!” Before Grissom shot her in the back of the head and then again in the forehead while she held on to one of the girls.
Allegedly Johns also entered the house and the two men fled, on a stolen four -wheeler, but quickly got without gas and was taken into custody after he had taken a ride to a cafe in a nearby county.
Authorities then found the daughters of Kopf still in the house, physically unharmed.
Matthews was flown to a hospital in Oklahoma City, but was later declared dead.
Grissom's lawyers did not dispute his feelings of guilt, but claimed during a hearing that he suffered from brain damage that was never presented to a jury.
They also noted that he has always accepted responsibility and even wrote an apology to the Matthews family during his first interview with the police.
Matthews had argued for her life in the moments before Grissom shot her in her head (Picture Credit: Oklahoma Office of the Attorney General)
At the time of his first confession, Grissom asked the police if the State has the death penalty.
When he was told that it is, he said, “I want it … I just want my life to be over.”
In a second confession, he said: “I didn't intend or meant something would happen. I don't know why it did.
“I just know it was useless and I was not in any correct state of mind … I wish God it had never happened,” he said, according to the Oklahoman.
In a text message to his spiritual adviser in January, Grissom also wrote that he was not afraid to die because he knew where he was going.
“I will finally be free from this place and so, you know,” he texted according to USA Today. “I certainly don't want to spend the rest of my life on this sorry place.”
On Monday, Grissom also told Newsweek that he asked God for forgiveness.
“I would lie if I said I was not stressed or worried, but I know where I am with God,” he said.
'I am not afraid to die necessarily because I know I have asked for forgiveness. I am not worthy, I admit that, but Jesus Christ died of that cross for everyone – that includes me and you. '
Grissom enjoyed a last meal of a medium thick crust of Canadian bacon supreme pizza, a pint vanilla ice cream and a pint of coke (picture credit: Oklahoma Office of the Attorney General)
On Thursday, Grissom enjoyed a last meal of a medium-sized thick crust of Canadian bacon supreme pizza, a pint vanilla ice cream and a pint of coke.
When he was then brought into the room to be executed, a spiritual adviser prayed at his feet when the deadly drugs started to flow.
He breathed out vigorously several times and heard snoring when a doctor entered the execution room and declared him unconscious about five minutes later. He seemed to stop breathing at 10:09 am and the color started to walk out of his face, while more than two dozen friends and family of Matthew watched.
“This was probably just as flawless of an execution that we had in terms of the process,” said director Steven Harpe, director of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections.
He noted that Grissom had told the staff in the prison for which he was ready for this day, Koco reports.
“Wendell Grissom was brave with his death,” said Harpe. “He repeatedly regretted and made peace with his execution.”
Johns, now 74, is now a life sentence without a suspended release after being convicted of a separate trial against murder in the first degree and Grand Larceny in the case.
