Ohio man executed for fire deaths of 5 children

LUCASVILLE, Ohio (AP) — Ohio has executed a man who killed five children in a 1992 Cincinnati apartment fire that he set in an attempt to destroy evidence of a burglary.

William Garner died by lethal injection at 10:38 a.m. today at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville.

Garner had burglarized Addie Mack’s apartment after stealing keys from her purse while she received care in the emergency room of a nearby hospital. Six children, ages 8 to 13, were at the apartment alone, and Garner knew they were there when he threw a lit match onto a couch.

Garner has said he thought the children would escape. Only one made it out alive.

The 37-year-old Garner is the sixth person executed in Ohio this year and the 39th since the state resumed the practice in 1999.