Brad Sigmon, a 67-year-old man from South Carolina, was executed by firing squad on Friday, marking the first such execution in the United States in 15 years. Sigmon, who was convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend’s parents with a baseball bat in 2001, was put to death at Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia, according to prison spokesperson Chrysti Shain. The execution occurred at 6:05 pm (2305 GMT), and Sigmon was declared dead three minutes later by a physician.
Journalists who witnessed the execution described the scene: Sigmon, clad in a black jumpsuit, was strapped to a chair in the death chamber, with a small red bullseye placed over his heart. In his final statement, read by his attorney Gerald “Bo” King, Sigmon conveyed a message of love and urged Christians to work towards ending the death penalty. A hood was placed over his head before the firing squad—volunteers from the South Carolina Department of Corrections—fired their rifles from about 15 feet away through a slit in the wall.
“The shots were all fired at once,” said Anna Dobbins, a journalist from WYFF News 4. “There was a splash of blood when the bullets entered his body.”
King described the execution as a violent and horrifying spectacle, calling it “unfathomable” that South Carolina would carry out such an execution in 2025. “It is a bloody spectacle,” he said.
Sigmon had been given a choice between lethal injection, the electric chair, or the firing squad. According to his attorney, Sigmon chose the firing squad after being placed in what he described as an “impossible” situation. “If he chose lethal injection, he risked the prolonged death suffered by all three of the men South Carolina has executed since September,” King explained. He also pointed out that the electric chair would “burn and cook him alive,” calling both alternatives “monstrous.”
The last firing squad execution in the U.S. occurred in Utah in 2010, following similar executions in 1996 and 1977. Since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, lethal injection has been the primary method of execution. However, some states have resorted to alternative methods due to concerns over lethal injection protocols. Alabama has recently used nitrogen gas for four executions, a method condemned by UN experts as cruel and inhumane.
Currently, five states—South Carolina, Utah, Idaho, Mississippi, and Oklahoma—have authorized firing squads as an alternative method of execution. So far this year, six executions have taken place in the U.S., following 25 executions in 2024. The death penalty has been abolished in 23 states, and California, Oregon, and Pennsylvania have imposed moratoriums on it. Former President Donald Trump, a strong supporter of capital punishment, has advocated for expanding its use, stating it should be applied “for the vilest crimes.”
