COLUMBIA, S.C. - Jerry McWee glanced at the witnesses to his execution for only a moment - just long enough to blow two kisses to his mother.

Then he gazed back up at the ceiling Friday and mumbled as he was put to death for killing an Aiken County convenience store clerk in July 1991.

Authorities say McWee, 51, was looking for money for drugs when he took John Perry to the back of the country store and shot him twice in the head before stealing $350 from the cash register.

In his final statement read by his lawyer, McWee asked both his own family and Perry's family to forgive him.

"I only wished that things could have been different," McWee wrote. "I would give anything if only that could have been the case."

A tear formed in his eye as his mother blew a kiss back at him and his final words were read.

That tear finally rolled down the side of his head moments after he stopped breathing. More than 10 minutes later, McWee was officially declared dead at 6:18 p.m.

Celia McWee softly sobbed, a well-wadded tissue in her hand, as she waited for prison officials to open the curtain to the death chamber.

She gasped "Oh my God" and her cries got louder as the curtain opened and she saw her clean-shaven son strapped to the gurney, his arms extended, and intravenous tubes stretching through a nearby wall. A minister put his hand on her shoulder.

After glancing at his mother, Jerry McWee looked back at the ceiling, softly mumbling as the tubes shuddered. He blinked several times and his breathing got shallow, then stopped.

Celia McWee's sobs got softer as it was obvious McWee was no longer breathing. But she never took her eyes off her son.

A member of Perry's family also witnessed the execution, and his gaze never left McWee's body either.

After the execution, Perry's wife and family issued a statement thanking the community, law enforcement and prosecutors and saying it was not a time to rejoice.

"God has given us free will - we are each responsible for our actions," part of the statement read. "Please make choices you can live with. Please pray for the soul of Jerry B. McWee."

McWee also pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to life in the shooting death of his boss a week later. His co-defendant George Scott, who shot the second victim, received a life sentence for both killings as part of a plea bargain.

McWee had two final appeals rejected this week. The U.S. Supreme Court turned down one appeal where McWee argued the jury in his trial should have known he would have been 71 years old before he became eligible for parole.

And on Thursday, Gov. Mark Sanford refused to reduce McWee's sentence to life in prison without parole. McWee's lawyers had argued for clemency because prosecutors cut Scott a deal.

McWee's execution brought a larger number of protesters than usual to the Broad River Correctional Institution. About 50 people walked the sidewalk along a busy city street in front of the prison, then gathered in a circle and prayed as the time for McWee's execution came.

Several of the protesters said they came out Friday because Celia McWee marched down the same sidewalks during some previous executions. After the execution was over, Celia McWee came out and thanked some of the protesters.

"I hope my son's death brings peace to the Perry family," Celia McWee told WJBF-TV in Augusta, Ga.

Jerry McWee is the 30th inmate put to death in South Carolina since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.

The state's last execution came March 19 when David Clayton Hill was put to death for killing a Georgetown police officer 10 years ago.

The next execution comes next Friday, when Jason Byram is scheduled to die by lethal injection for the stabbing of a teacher in her downtown Columbia home.