Chaos erupts during Texas execution, as son of killer Billie Wayne Coble attacks observers after father’s final words
- Two people, including Gordon Coble, were arrested during the melee
- Billie Wayne Coble murdered the parents and brother of his estranged wife in 1989
Chaos erupted outside Texas’ death chamber on Thursday night when the son of the condemned inmate pounded on the chamber windows, shouted obscenities and threw fists after his father spoke his final words.
Billie Wayne Coble, a Vietnam War veteran who killed his estranged wife’s parents and brother and threatened to do the same to her in 1989, told the five witnesses he selected to attend his execution that he loved them. Coble nodded at them as they watched from the witness room, adding: “Take care.”
When he finished speaking, son Gordon Coble, a friend and a daughter-in-law became emotional, swinging punches and kicking other observers in the death chamber witness area.
Officers stepped in but said the witnesses continued to resist and were eventually moved to a courtyard where the son and another man were handcuffed. They were arrested on charges of resisting an officer.
“Why are you doing this?” the woman asked. “They just killed his daddy.”