A man on Oklahoma’s death row for killing a Tecumseh police officer in 2017 has died, state officials said Tuesday.
Byron Shepard, 42, was pronounced dead early Tuesday at a hospital near the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, according to a statement from the Oklahoma Department of Corrections. No signs of physical trauma were found, and the state medical examiner’s office will determine the official cause of death.
Shepard had been given the death penalty after fatally shooting Tecumseh Police Officer Justin Terney during a March 2017 traffic stop.
Shepard had previously been scheduled to be executed in March 2020, but the execution was postponed.