Killer of Air Force Officer Executed
Wednesday, March 28, 2007; 9:35 PM
HUNTSVILLE, Texas -- A San Antonio man convicted of killing an Air Force officer during a carjacking 10 years ago was executed Wednesday by lethal injection.
Vincent Gutierrez, 28, did not look at relatives or a friend of the victim as they stood a few feet away looking through a window. He said he was sorry the situation happened, but it was unclear if he was apologizing for the fatal shooting.
  This photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shows death row inmate Vincent Gutierrez who is scheduled for execution at the Texas prison in Huntsville, Wednesday, March 28, 2007. Gutierrez, is set to die by lethal injection for the March 11, 1997, murder of U.S. Air Force officer Capt. Jose Cobo in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Texas Dept. of Criminal Justice) (AP) 
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"Where's a stunt double when you need one?" he said, laughing.
He said a brief prayer and was pronounced dead at 6:23 p.m., seven minutes after the lethal drugs began to flow.
Gutierrez was one of two carjackers condemned for the March 1997 shooting death of Capt. Jose Cobo, whose body was shoved from his car and dumped on the shoulder of Interstate 410 during a morning rush hour in the Alamo city.
Gutierrez was 18 at the time. Just two weeks before the shooting, he had been released from a two-month stint at a prison boot camp for a burglary conviction.
He acknowledged shooting Cobo _ and expressed no remorse _ saying he fired at the military officer because he didn't want to go back to jail for another robbery.
The Colombia-born Cobo, 39, was a 13-year Air Force veteran who was chief of maintenance training at the Inter-American Air Forces Academy at Lackland Air Force Base.
Gutierrez was the 10th prisoner to die by injection this year in the nation's busiest capital punishment state. Another execution is set for Thursday.
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On the Net:
Texas Department of Criminal Justice execution schedule, http:/
