Double murderer becomes first US inmate executed by firing squad in 15 years

Brad Sigmon, a 67-year-old inmate convicted of brutally murdering his ex-girlfriend's parents with a baseball bat in 2001, has become the first person in the United States to be executed by firing squad in 15 years.

Sigmon was executed on March 7 after 6 p.m. local time at the hands of three volunteers from the South Carolina Department of Corrections, Caliber.Az reports referring to foreign media.

The volunteers fired rifles loaded with special bullets, striking him in the chest from a distance of about 5 meters. The shots were fired simultaneously.

Witnesses to the execution included three members of the victims’ family and Sigmon’s spiritual advisor. The department confirmed that Sigmon was strapped to a chair with a container placed beneath him to collect any blood. State protocol dictates that inmates sentenced to death by firing squad be securely fastened to a chair, with a target placed over the heart and a bag placed over their head.

Before his execution, Sigmon requested that his final words be a message of love and an appeal for an end to executions. After making his statement, a bag was placed over his head. A red apple-shaped target was affixed to Sigmon’s chest. A doctor pronounced him dead at 6:08 p.m., about 90 seconds after the execution.

The bullets used in the firing squad are designed to disintegrate upon impact, causing maximum damage, although medical experts have debated the level of pain they may cause.

Sigmon had been sentenced to death for the 2001 murders of David and Gladys Clark, who were killed after Sigmon’s ex-girlfriend decided to end their relationship. He had been offered a choice of lethal injection or the electric chair, but he opted for the firing squad, citing concerns about the effectiveness of the other methods.

Sigmon’s execution marks the first use of a firing squad in the US since 2010 and the fourth since the death penalty was reinstated in the country following a 1972-1976 moratorium.

By Tamilla Hasanova