Tennessee man noted intense pain during lethal injection without deactivating defibrillator

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A man convicted of killing his girlfriend and her two young daughters in the 1980s said he was “hurting so bad” while he was given a lethal injection Tuesday in Tennessee, where authorities had refused to deactivate his implanted defibrillator despite claims it might cause unnecessary, painful shocks as the drugs were administered.

Black's attorney said they will review data kept by the device as part of an autopsy.

Black died at 10:43 a.m., prison officials said. It was about 10 minutes after the execution started and Black talked about being in pain.

Asked for any last words, he replied, “No sir.”

Black looked around the room as the execution started, lifting his head off the gurney multiple times, and could be heard sighing and breathing heavily. All seven media witnesses to the execution agreed he appeared to be in discomfort. Throughout the execution, a spiritual adviser prayed and sang over Black, at one point touching his face.

“Oh, it's hurting so bad," Black said, as he lay with his hands and chest restrained to the gurney, a sheet covering up past his lower half, and an IV line in his arm.

“I'm so sorry. Just listen to my voice,” the adviser responded.

Black was executed after a back-and-forth in court over whether officials would need to turn off his implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, or ICD. Black, 69, was in a wheelchair, suffering from dementia, brain damage, kidney failure, congestive heart failure and other conditions, his attorneys have said.

The nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center said it’s unaware of any other cases with similar claims to Black’s about ICDs or pacemakers. Black’s attorneys said they haven’t found a comparable case, either.

Black was convicted in the 1988 shooting deaths of his girlfriend Angela Clay, 29, and her two daughters, Latoya Clay, 9, and Lakeisha Clay, 6. Prosecutors said he was in a jealous rage when he shot the three at their home. At the time, Black was on work-release while serving time for shooting Clay’s estranged husband.

Clay's sister said Black will now face a higher power.

“His family is now going through the same thing we went through 37 years ago. I can't say I’m sorry because we never got an apology," Linette Bell, Angela Clay's sister, said in a statement read by a victim's advocate after the execution.

Black's lawyer said the execution was shameful.

“Today, the state of Tennessee killed a gentle, kind, fragile, intellectually disabled man in a violation of the laws of our country simply because they could," attorney Kelley Henry said.

In mid-July, a trial court judge agreed with Black’s attorneys that officials must have the defibrillator deactivated to avert the risk that it could cause unnecessary pain and prolong the execution. But Tennessee's Supreme Court overturned that decision Thursday, saying the other judge lacked authority to order the change.

The state disputed that the lethal injection would cause Black’s defibrillator to shock him and said he wouldn’t feel them regardless.

Henry said Black's defense team will carefully review autopsy results, EKG data from Black and information from the defibrillator to determine what exactly happened during the execution. The lethal injection protocol is still being challenged in court.

She said she was especially concerned about his head movement and complaints of pain because the massive dose of pentobarbital used to kill inmates is supposed to rapidly leave them unconscious.

“The fact that he was able to raise his head several times and express pain tells you that the pentobarbital was not acting the way the state's experts claim it acts,” Henry said.

Prison officials did not comment on witnesses and Black’s attorney saying he appeared conscious or his complaints of pain.

It was Tennessee’s second execution since May, after a pause for five years, first because of COVID-19 and then because of missteps by state corrections officials.

Twenty-eight men have died by court-ordered execution so far this year in the U.S., and nine other people are scheduled to be put to death in seven states during the remainder of 2025. The number of executions this year exceeds the 25 carried out last year and in 2018. It is the highest total since 2015, when 28 people were put to death.

Black had an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, which is a small, battery-powered electronic device that is surgically implanted in the chest. It served as a pacemaker and an emergency defibrillator. Black’s attorneys have said a doctor can send it a deactivation command without surgery.

The legal case also spurred a reminder that most medical professionals consider participation in executions a violation of health care ethics.

In recent years, Black's legal team has unsuccessfully tried to get a new hearing about an intellectual disability they say he's exhibited since childhood. People with intellectual disabilities are constitutionally barred from execution.

His attorneys have said that if they had delayed a prior attempt to seek his intellectual disability claim, he would have been spared under a 2021 state law. That is because the 2021 law denies a hearing to people on death row who have already filed a similar request and a court has ruled on it “on the merits."

A judge denied Nashville District Attorney Glenn Funk's attempt to get Black a new hearing. Funk focused on input from an expert for the state in 2004 who determined back then that Black didn’t meet the criteria for what was then called "mental retardation.” But she concluded that Black met the new law’s criteria for a diagnosis of intellectual disability.

Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this story.

Relatives of the victims of convicted murderer Byron Black stay in the area reserved for pro-death penalty advocates outside Riverbend Maximum Security Institution before the execution of Black, Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Anti-death penalty demonstrators gather outside Riverbend Maximum Security Institution before the execution of Byron Black Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Relatives of victims of convicted murderer Byron Black are escorted from the Administration Building at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution after the execution of Black, Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Rev. Ingrid McIntyre stands in the area reserved for anti-death penalty protesters as security guards ride past outside Riverbend Maximum Security Institution before the execution of Byron Black Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada reads a statement as relatives of victims of convicted murderer Byron Black listen outside Riverbend Maximum Security Institution after the execution of Byron Black, Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

India Pungarcher, left, hugs Rev. Ingrid McIntyre as demonstrators gather in the area reserved for anti-death penalty protesters outside Riverbend Maximum Security Institution before the execution of Byron Black Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Necoule Davis, left, and Sharonda Page, both cousins of victims of convicted murderer Byron Black, wait outside Riverbend Maximum Security Institution before the execution of Black, Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Relatives of the victims of convicted murderer Byron Black stay in the area reserved for pro-death penalty advocates outside Riverbend Maximum Security Institution before the execution of Black, Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Sharonda Page, left, a cousin of the victims of convicted murderer Byron Black, waits with other relatives of the victims in the area reserved for pro-death penalty advocates outside Riverbend Maximum Security Institution before the execution of Black, Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

FILE - This undated booking photo provided by the Tennessee Department of Corrections shows Byron Black. (Tennessee Department of Corrections via AP, File)

BERLIN (AP) — A van slammed into people gathered for Berlin’s famed Pride festival on Saturday night, killing one person, injuring at least 16 others and prompting police to call off the celebrations and a concert in the German capital hours after they had begun.

Berlin police said they have identified a suspect who has not been arrested and he has ties to Islamic groups in the German capital.

“The suspect is known to police. He is known to us as a member of Islamic circles here in Berlin, and our search for this person is proceeding at full speed,” said police spokesman Florian Nath. He did not identify the suspect by name.

Nath added that “we still have no information whatsoever regarding his specific motives, the exact sequence of events, or his role in the crime itself.”

Earlier, police said some of the victims had life-threatening injuries. In a post on X, police called on everyone to leave the site of the event immediately as ambulances and firefighters attended to the victims.

According to police, a white van had driven into the Tiergarten park around 10 p.m., which is next to the route that the pride march had passed along earlier, and hit several people before colliding with a tree. Police could not say how many officers had been deployed to the scene but that it was “definitely a lot of police.”

Overall, more than 2,200 police officers have been on duty in Berlin since Saturday morning to protect the pride parade and other LGBTQ+ events in the city.

Police were conducting witness interrogations at the park during the night and were investigating accounts that in addition to the crash some victims appeared to have suffered stab wounds — but that it was too early to draw any conclusion from those accounts.

Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner expressed shock, saying that “following a peaceful and vibrant pride parade, the rally for a tolerant and peaceful Berlin was attacked in the most brutal manner.”

“This is an attack on our free and cosmopolitan society,” Wegner said. “I have confidence in the police and security authorities, who will be working around the clock to investigate.”

Meanwhile, authorities called on possible witnesses to come forward and share with police any video or photos they might have taken at the scene of the attack.

The city also activated a crisis hotline for people missing friends or family members.

Hundreds of thousands of people had come to Berlin on Saturday to celebrate at Berlin’s pride parade, known in Germany as Christopher Street Day. It’s one of Europe’s largest LGBTQ+ celebrations.

The pride event in front of the city’s Brandenburg Gate, near Tiergarten, was called off around 10:15 p.m. and a band’s performance on stage was interrupted. People were urged to go home and to avoid taking the route through the park.

Before the incident, people had celebrated peacefully, marching through the city for hours, dancing to loud music, and cheering the around 80 floats that participated in the parade.

Julian Miethig, who had attended the LGBTQ+ party at the Brandenburg Gate earlier, said he had just wanted to go to an afterparty when he heard from a friend that “something bad happened there and there are a lot of fire trucks, a lot of emergency vehicles, ambulances.”

He said he went to Tiergarten and was shocked that something like this could have happened at Berlin’s pride celebrations.

“It’s a dark day for the community,” he said.

Two people embrace near others wearing thermal blankets as they stand near emergency personnel in Berlin, early Sunday, July 26, 2026, following the cancellation of Christopher Street Day festivities. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Two people embrace near others wearing thermal blankets as they stand near emergency personnel in Berlin, early Sunday, July 26, 2026, following the cancellation of Christopher Street Day festivities. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Mayor Kai Wegner speaks to the media in Berlin, early Sunday, July 26, 2026, following the cancellation of Christopher Street Day festivities. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Emergency personnel gather at an intersection following the cancellation of Christopher Street Day activities in Berlin, on Saturday, July 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Fanny Brodersen)

Emergency personnel use flashlights following the cancellation of Christopher Street Day in the Tiergarten area of Berlin on Saturday, July 25, 2026. (Fabian Sommer/dpa via AP)

Emergency personnel gather following the cancellation of Christopher Street Day festivities in Berlin, on Saturday, July 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

A person wrapped in a thermal blanket stands near emergency personnel following the cancellation of Christopher Street Day festivities in Berlin, on Saturday, July 25, 2026. (Fabian Sommer/dpa/dpa via AP)

The crowd celebrate during the Pride March in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, July 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Emergency personnel tend to a person on a stretcher following the cancellation of Christopher Street Day in Berlin on Saturday, July 25, 2026. (Andreas Rabenstein/dpa via AP)

People march with a rainbow flag during the Christopher Street Day parade in Berlin, on Saturday, July 25, 2026. (Fabian Sommer/dpa via AP)

People wave during the Christopher Street Day parade in Berlin, on Saturday, July 25, 2026. (Fabian Sommer/dpa via AP)

People stand on 17 June Street following the cancellation of Christopher Street Day in Berlin, on Saturday, July 25, 2026. (Fabian Sommer/dpa via AP)

Participants with dog masks attend the Pride March in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, July 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

People march with a rainbow flag during the Christopher Street Day parade in Berlin, on Saturday, July 25, 2026. (Fabian Sommer/dpa via AP)

People carry a "Leather Pride Flag" during the Christopher Street Day parade in Berlin, on Saturday, July 25, 2026. (Fabian Sommer/dpa via AP)

People wave during the Christopher Street Day parade in Berlin, on Saturday, July 25, 2026. (Fabian Sommer/dpa via AP)

Police officers are on the scene following the cancellation of Christopher Street Day in Berlin, on Saturday, July 25, 2026. (Fabian Sommer/dpa/dpa via AP)