Killer of 3 social workers put to death

COLUMBIA, S.C., June 6 (UPI) -- A South Carolina man was executed Friday for killing three social workers after he lost custody of his children.

David Mark Hill, who had dropped any further appeals, died by lethal injection in the state prison in Columbia, WIS-TV reported.

In 1996, Hill tried to shoot himself after gunning down Michael Gregory, 30, Josie Curry, 32, and Jimmy Riddle, 52, in their office in North Augusta. He survived, although the self-inflicted wound left him unable to change facial expression.

At his 1999 trial, Hill's lawyers argued that he was mentally ill at the time of the shootings, and under pressure because he and his wife were both out of work and she had asked for a divorce. His daughter was a quadriplegic as a result of a car crash, another source of stress.

Marnie Gregory told WRDW-TV in Augusta that she also struggled with depression for years after the death of her husband, Michael Gregory. She said her husband ran into Hill by accident while he was on his way to the bathroom and that he struggled for his life.

"I'm sure while he was fighting, he was thinking of us, he was thinking of his children," she said.