By Associated Press PUBLISHED: 22:37 EST, 16 July 2013 | UPDATED: 23:33 EST, 16 July 2013 A Texas man convicted of fatally shooting a retired sheriff's deputy during the robbery of an amusement center more than a decade ago was put to death Tuesday. John Manuel Quintanilla received lethal injection for gunning down 60-year-old Victor Billings at a game room in Victoria, about 125 miles southwest of Houston. The 2002 slaying came just a few months after Quintanilla had been released from prison after serving a sentence for several burglary convictions. Asked to make a final statement before his execution, Quintanilla told his wife he loved her.
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John Manuel Quintanilla Jr. was sentenced to death by lethal injection
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He murdered Victor Billings during an attempted robbery of a gaming room
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His execution is 19th in the U.S. and ninth in Texas this year
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He is the 501st person to be executed since 1976 when the death penalty was reinstated
Victor Billings
Victor Billings
@placeholder approached one of them and grabbed the barrel of the gunman's rifle 'so no one else was going to be hurt and paid for it dearly,' Eaves said.