A man from South Carolina was executed for the murder of his ex-girlfriend’s parents in 2001. This execution used a firing squad, a method not utilized in the U.S. for 15 years.
Brad Sigmon, aged 67, was declared dead at 6:08 p.m. after being shot by three prison employees at the Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia, as reported by the Associated Press.
Sigmon, who confessed to the murder, stated that he committed the crime because his ex-girlfriend did not want to be with him. During the execution, he was blindfolded, tied to a chair, and had a target placed on his chest.
Brad Sigmon was convicted of beating to death his estranged girlfriend’s parents in Greenville County in 2001. (South Carolina Department of Corrections via AP)
The executioners, armed with rifles about 15 feet away, fired bullets into his heart.
The volunteers all fired at the same time through openings in a wall, according to the AP. A dozen witnesses, seated in a room separated from the chamber by bullet-resistant glass, could not see the executioners.
Just a few hours before the death sentence, the U.S. Supreme Court denied an emergency motion to suspend the execution.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster and South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson signed off on the action.
Executions in South Carolina resumed in September, when the state – once one of the busiest for executions – ended a 13-year pause in carrying out the death penalty.
Twenty-five executions were carried out in the U.S. last year. Five have already been carried out in 2025, per the Death Penalty Information Center.
Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
