Texas executed Cedric Ricks on Wednesday evening for the fatal stabbing of his girlfriend and her 8-year-old son in 2013. Ricks, 51, was pronounced dead at 6:55 p.m. CDT following a lethal injection of pentobarbital at the state penitentiary in Huntsville.

Ricks was sentenced to death for the May 2013 killings of 30-year-old Roxann Sanchez and her son Anthony Figueroa at their apartment in Bedford, a suburb in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. During the attack, Sanchez's 12-year-old son Marcus Figueroa was injured but survived.

Before his execution, Ricks used his final statement to apologize directly to the victims' family. The surviving victim was present to witness the execution, according to reports.

The Supreme Court recently rejected Ricks' appeal, which claimed that potential jurors in his trial were eliminated based on race. The execution proceeded nearly 13 years after the original crimes were committed.

The case represents another death penalty carried out in Texas, which has historically been among the most active states for capital punishment in the United States.