South Carolina Man, 67, to Be Executed by Firing Squad Tonight, the First in 15 Years, After Losing Last-Minute Appeal

A South Carolina man will become the first person executed by firing squad in the United States in 15 years after his last-minute appeal for clemency failed.

Brad Sigmon, 67, is scheduled to go in front of a row of sharpshooters on Friday, March 7. He spent nearly a quarter century on death row, following a conviction for the 2001 murders of David and Gladys Larke — his ex-girlfriend’s parents, who he killed with a baseball bat.

Sigmon’s execution will be South Carolina’s first undertaken using a firing squad since the state’s Supreme Court ruled the practice was legal in July 2024. The State Legislature legalized executions by firing squad and electric chair in 2021, but it was blocked by a lower court the following year.

On Tuesday, the state Supreme Court denied Sigmon’s eleventh-hour appeal for mercy, ruling the “exceptional circumstances” needed to delay an execution were not present, the Greenville News reports.

Sigmon had previously elected to die via firing squad instead of lethal injection or the electric chair. Witnesses will observe Sigmon’s execution through bulletproof glass, according to the Associated Press.

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When the time comes — assuming Gov. Henry McMaster does not grant last-minute clemency — Sigmon’s head will be covered by a hood and a target will be placed over his heart, AP reports.

Fifteen feet away, three officers with the state Corrections Department will point their rifles through a hole in a wall and open fire on Sigmon, the outlet reports. Witnesses will not be able to see the executioners nor learn their names.

The last person executed by firing squad in the United States was Ronnie Lee Gardner, who had fatally shot an attorney while attempting to escape a courthouse. He met his end in Utah in 2010.

Five states authorize executions by firing squad, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Besides South Carolina, they include Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Utah.