JARRATT -- John Allen Muhammad, the sniper who kept the Washington region paralyzed by fear for three weeks as he and an accomplice gunned down people at random, was executed Tuesday night by lethal injection.

Muhammad, a man who directed what many law enforcement officials consider one of the worst outbreaks of crime in the nation's history, died in Virginia's death chamber while relatives of his victims looked on.

Unlike his victims, Muhammad knew when and how he was going to die. He and Lee Boyd Malvo, then 17, killed 10 people in the Washington area during a terrifying October 2002 rampage; they also have been linked to shootings in other states.

State authorities escorted Muhammad, in denim and flip-flops, into a small room at the Greensville Correctional Center and strapped him to a cross-shaped table. He was injected with a series of lethal drugs beginning at 9:06 p.m., and he was pronounced dead at 9:11 p.m.

Although he maintained his innocence to the very end, Muhammad, 48, ignored officials when they offered him a chance to make a final statement. Muhammad was put to death for a single killing -- the Oct. 9, 2002, sniper slaying of Dean Harold Meyers of Gaithersburg, Md., who was shot shortly after 8 p.m. while he pumped gas into his Mazda at a Sunoco station outside Manassas.

Larry Traylor, a spokesman for the Virginia Department of Corrections, said Tuesday night that Muhammad requested a last meal but asked that details not be made public. Muhammad also declined to meet with a spiritual adviser, but he did spend time with immediate family members in his last few hours.

Muhammad showed no emotion in the death chamber. When the curtain opened, his head was tilted to the right, and his eyes were closed. Asked whether he wanted to say anything, he did not respond.

Using a single .223-caliber sniper rifle and a modified Chevrolet sedan that authorities have called "a killing machine," Muhammad and Malvo injected fear into the mundane tasks their victims were performing as they were hit: pumping gas, shopping, walking to school, mowing lawns, going to a restaurant. Malvo is serving a life sentence without parole.