The only survivor of a shooting spree carried out by a U.S. man in retaliation for the 2001 terrorist attacks has made a last-minute bid to halt the execution of the shooter.

Surviving victim Rais Bhuiyan filed an appeal Wednesday in a U.S. federal court in the southern state of Texas, where the shooting spree took place. A judge rejected the appeal, but Bhuiyan's lawyers promised to challenge that ruling in a higher court.

Bhuiyan was blinded in one eye when the gunman, Mark Stroman, shot him in the face. Bhuiyan has argued against the death sentence, saying his Muslim faith calls for forgiveness.

Stroman was scheduled to be executed in Texas late Wednesday.

In the days and weeks after the September 11, 2001 attacks, he killed two men and injured a third in three separate shootings. The self-described white supremacist said he targeted people he thought to be Middle Eastern. The victims who died were a Pakistani native and an Indian man. Bhuiyan is a native of Bangladesh.

Stroman was prosecuted for the murder of the Indian man, a 49-year-old gas station clerk.

Stroman's execution would be the eighth in Texas this year.