The U.S. state of South Carolina executed a convicted murderer by firing squad on Friday night, marking the first such execution in the United States since 2010.
Brad Sigmon, 67, was convicted of beating his ex-fiancée’s parents to death in 2001. He was executed by firing squad on Friday.
Sigmon was sentenced to death in 2002.
He chose to be executed by firing squad, saying that he feared the alternatives—electric chair and lethal injection—would result in a slower and more painful death.
Sigmon was pronounced dead at 6.08 pm local time on Friday after being shot by three prison employees armed with rifles that were loaded with live ammunition.
Ahead of the execution, a group of protesters gathered outside the South Carolina Department of Corrections, holding signs with messages such as, “All life is precious” and “Execute justice, not people.”
Execution by firing squad has been rare in the U.S. since 1977, with only three instances occurring in Utah, one of five states where this method, widely used during the Civil War era, remains an option.
The last person executed by firing squad was Ronnie Lee Gardner, who was executed in 2010 for killing a man during an attempted courthouse escape in 1985.
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