Oklahoma Executes Convicted Murderer Gilbert Postelle In McAlester

Oklahoma carried out the execution of Gilbert Postelle Thursday morning.

His official time of death was 10:14 a.m.

Postelle was convicted of murdering four people in 2005, the Memorial Day murders of Amy Wright, 26; James Alderson, 57; Terry Smith, 56; and James Swindle Jr., 49.

According to police reports, Postelle shot more than "30 rounds" from an "AK-47 style rifle" "striking all four victims." Prosecutors said Wright and Alderson were trying to run away when Postelle chased them and shot them in the back multiple times.

During Postelle's clemency hearings, attorneys for the state said, "In her final moments, Amy Wright was screaming and clawing the ground to escape from Gilbert Postelle. He heard her screams, saw her desperate attempt to escape from him. Rather than showing Amy mercy, he shot her in the back three times."

Postelle was sentenced to death in 2008 for two of the four murders — and to life in prison for the other two.

His supporters say his growing up in special education classes and having a schizophrenia diagnosis should take him off Death Row. They said he became addicted to methamphetamine at the age of 12.

Postelle will become the fourth and final inmate to be executed during this latest round of lethal injections.

News 9's Storme Jones will cover the execution from the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.