McAlester, Oklahoma - A 45-year-old man convicted of a double murder was put to death by lethal injection in Oklahoma on Thursday, the third execution in the US this year.

Kendrick Simpson was pronounced dead at 11:19 AM ET at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, prison officials said.

A spiritual adviser was in the death chamber when the execution was carried out, they said.

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Simpson was sentenced to death for killing Glen Palmer (20) and Anthony Jones (19) following an argument at a nightclub in Oklahoma City in 2006.

He fired more than 20 bullets from an assault rifle into their car. A third man who was in the vehicle survived the shooting.

Originally from Louisiana, Simpson moved to Oklahoma in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina devastated his hometown, New Orleans.

There have been two previous executions in the US this year, one in Texas and one in Florida.

There were 47 executions in the US last year, the most since 2009, when 52 inmates were put to death.

Florida carried out the most executions in 2025 – 19 – followed by Alabama, South Carolina and Texas, where there were five each.