Mark McClain Executed, Victim’s Co-Worker Remembers Tragic Night

Augusta, GA—John Eckburg, Worked with Kevin Brown: “He’s one of those guys, he was kind of like a big teddy bear. Everybody just loved him, had a lot of friends. Really a kind hearted soul.”

But Kevin Brown’s life was cut short. John Eckburg was a former co-worker of Kevin’s at Domino’s, the same place where he was killed in 1994.

Eckburg:  “When I got the call, they said there had been a robbery, and that somebody had been shot, but I didn’t know at the time, Kevin was shot, and I didn’t know he had died.”

Kevin was the only one in the store when Mark McClain shot and killed him after stealing $130.

Eckburg: “It was a really hard time. I actually had to go into the store after the incident and go in and clean up the store. And, it’s something that I’ll never forget, as long as I live. It was just something that was just really hard to see and just a needless tragedy.”

A needless tragedy, that put Mark McClain on death row for 14 years.

Eckburg: “To me, I think that when the whole incident happened, it was just a tragedy for 2 families. For Kevin’s family and the McClain family.”

Tuesday night, Mark McClain was executed by lethal injection for the murder of Kevin Brown. Although, it won’t bring Kevin back, many who knew him say justice was served. But for Eckburg, he says it still remains a sad day for anyone.

Eckburg: “I don’t look at it as a victory. I do believe that they did catch the right man, and just was served, but it still seems like a sad waste of another life.”

Eckburg says after the murder happened, they increased safety measures at their store by doing things like installing surveillance cameras.

There are two sides to every story…and the other side showed up in downtown Augusta, the group, Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, taking to the streets right around the same time Mark McClain was pronounced dead.  This one of nine protests across the state tonight against the execution of Mark McClain.