Indiana executed a cop killer by lethal injection Tuesday, the state's first execution in 15 years.
Benjamin Ritchie, 45, had been on death row since 2002, NBC News reported. For his last meal, he selected food from Olive Garden, a national chain of Italian eateries. The network reported that in his final statement, he expressed love and peaceful wishes for his friends and family.
Ritchie murdered Beech Grove Police Officer Bill Toney during a foot chase. Ritchie, who was 20 then, had stolen a van. He fired his gun at Toney during the foot chase, killing him.
"It's time. We're all tired," Dee Dee Horen, who was Toney's wife, told NBC News. "It is time for this chapter of my story, our story, to be closed. It's time for us to remember Bill, to remember Bill's life, and not his death."
Before his death, Ritchie apologized for his actions.
"I've ruined my life and other people's lives, and I'm so sorry for that night," he said according to CBS News. "If I could go back and just shake that kid, because he wouldn't listen to nobody. You can't take back what you did."
