Brad Sigmon of South Carolina was shot to death just after 6pm last evening by three state corrections department volunteers firing rifles at his chest with specially designed bullets, becoming the first US death row inmate to be executed by firing squad in the last 15 years, the BCC reports.
Sixty-seven-year-old Sigmon had been convicted of murdering David and Gladys Larke with a baseball bat in 2001, before kidnapping his ex-girlfriend at gunpoint. She managed to escape as he shot at her.
He had requested death by firing squad over the other two state-approved methods of execution: electric chair and lethal injection.
Sigmon, who was hooded and strapped to a chair, had a red bullseye target placed over his heart.
The BBC reports that a doctor performed an examination that took about 90 seconds, before declaring him dead. The .308 Winchester Tap Urban bullets used are designed to break apart on impact and cause maximum damage. Medical experts have debated the amount of pain they may cause.
Sigmon told witnesses he wanted his final statement “to be one of love and a calling to my fellow Christians to help us end the death penalty”.
[Image: South Carolina Department of Corrections – https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57496839]