A group of about a dozen people gathered in Harrisonburg Tuesday night to protest Larry Bill Elliott's execution.

The group was organized by the Harrisonburg Unitarian Universalist Social Justice Committee.

They met on Court Square shortly before Elliott's scheduled execution, where they held signs and silently mourned his death.

"Well, I think that the electric chair is a cruel and inhumane treatment, and it's barbaric and it's worse than embarrassing for our country that we still apply it," says Eric Lafreniere, who participated in the vigil.

The group says the fact that there have been two executions in Virginia within a week shows that the state is far behind other states.

Virginia ranks second in the nation for the number of capital punishment executions.