At about the same time mourners were filing into a Gaffney church to say their goodbyes to the last two victims of a serial killer, Spartanburg County deputies and investigators were racing to yet another horrific scene not far from the Cherokee County line.

An 8-year-old girl basically was executed during a domestic dispute outside a Chesnee home at about 3 p.m. Wednesday and the 7th Circuit Solicitor's Office announced its intention Thursday afternoon to seek the life of the man charged with committing the act.

Solicitor Trey Gowdy confirmed he will seek the death penalty against Ricky Lee Blackwell, 49, of 248 Ridings Road, Chesnee. An investigator for the Solicitor's Office served the death penalty notice on Blackwell at the Spartanburg Regional Medical Center on Thursday, where Blackwell was taken for treatment of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office said Blackwell shot himself in the lower torso as deputies attempted to take him into custody.

Blackwell has been charged with murder and kidnapping in the death of 8-year-old Heather Brooke Center.

According to the Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office, witnesses told investigators that Blackwell's estranged wife brought the child, who is the daughter of her boyfriend, to 244 Ridings Road so she could play with other children.

Blackwell's daughter and her husband live at 244 Ridings Road, according to police.

Shortly after their arrival, police said Blackwell took the 8- year-old child from a vehicle, placed the child in a headlock, and shot her in the head.

He allegedly shot her at least three more times as she was falling to the ground, according to the solicitor's office. Police found her bloodied body lying on the ground when they arrived.

"The paradigm we have always used is three fold - the circumstances of the crime, the character of the defendant and the impact the crime has on the community as a whole," Solicitor Gowdy said in a prepared statement. "The execution of a child shocks the conscience of this community and warrants seeking of society's ultimate punishment."

Gowdy said he decided to seek the death penalty after talking with Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright, Coroner Rusty Clevenger and other investigators who worked the crime scene.

Clevenger said the child's death was "heinous."

"That is about the shortest way to describe it," he added, "when you see a young lady that's not going to grow up, graduate high school, and do the normal things everybody else will."