UPDATE: Condemned Murderer Andrew Cook Executed

JACKSON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – A Georgia death row inmate charged with murdering two Mercer University students was executed Thursday evening.

According to a news release from the Georgia Supreme Court, Andrew Cook was executed by lethal injection at 11:22 p.m at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Center in Jackson.

The sentenced was carried out after United States Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas denied Cook’s request for a stay of execution at approximately 10:30 p.m.

Georgia Department of Corrections spokeswoman Gwendolyn Hogan says Cook was scheduled to die by lethal injection at 7 p.m. but his case was sent to the U.S. Supreme Court for review. This comes after the Georgia Supreme Court dismissed the request from Cook, saying the initial petition was not filed in the correct court. Hogan tells 41NBC sending Cook’s case to the US Supreme Court is part of the normal procedure.

Lawyers for Cook and Warren Lee Hill, another inmate set for execution this week, had filed a joint legal challenge arguing the state is violating the law by using pentobarbital in executions without a prescription. The state has said the challenge is frivolous.

Cook was convicted in the 1995 shooting deaths of two college students. Authorities say the killings were random.

Hill’s execution has been put on hold by federal courts on a separate issue.

41NBC’s Andrew Reeser is in Jackson where Cook is set to die Thursday night. Stay with 41NBC and 41NBC.com for updates on this developing story.