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South Carolina convict inches closer to first US death by firing squad in 15 years
A South Carolina death row inmate is scheduled to be executed by firing squad on Friday – the first execution of its kind in U.S. in 15 years. CREDIT: Associated Press
A South Carolina man convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend’s parents with a baseball bat in 2001 was executed by firing squad early Friday evening – a method used for the first time in 15 years in the U.S.
Brad Sigmon, 67, was pronounced dead at 6:08 p.m. after being shot by three volunteer prison employees at the Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia, according to the Associated Press.
Sigmon, who previously admitted to killing the couple because his ex-girlfriend refused to get back to him, was blindfolded and strapped to a chair with a target 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)
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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 because of South Carolina’s policies surrounding secretive lethal injection details.
Gov. Henry McMaster denied clemency on Friday prior to the execution. (Joshua Boucher/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster and South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson signed off on the action, despite pleas from his lawyers to commute the death sentence to life in prison.
Sigmon’s attorneys argued he was a model prisoner and the killings occurred while he was struggling with severe mental illness.
He chose to die by firing squad, citing fears about the electric chair and lethal injection, according to his representation.
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The double murderer’s last meal was three buckets of original recipe Kentucky Fried Chicken from KFC, his attorney, Gerald “Bo” King, told WYFF4.
Sigmon’s last meal consisted of Kentucky Fried Chicken.
He reportedly ordered more than one bucket so “he could share with the guys he’s incarcerated with on death row,” King told the outlet.
Sigmon said he killed victims Gladys Larke, 59, and David Larke, 62, after they evicted him from a trailer they owned.
He then unsuccessfully kidnapped his ex-girlfriend, Rebecca Armstrong, who jumped out of his moving car as he shot at her, prosecutors said.
“My intention was to kill her and then myself,” Sigmon said in a confession typed out by a detective after his arrest. “That was my intention all along. If I couldn’t have her, I wasn’t going to let anybody else have her. And I knew it got to the point where I couldn’t have her.”
Firing squad graphic (AP)
Armstrong told USA Today this week Sigmon “should answer for what he’s done,” noting his actions ripped her family apart.
The murdered parents of five missed the births of multiple grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
Armstrong, who doesn’t believe in the death penalty, said she would not attend the execution.
This photo provided by the South Carolina Department of Corrections shows the state’s death chamber in Columbia, S.C., including the electric chair, right, and a firing squad chair, left. (South Carolina Department of Corrections via AP)
Her son, Ricky Sims, told the Greenville News he would be there, wearing a pair of boots that were the last gift his grandparents ever gave him.
“He’s going to pay for what he’s done,” Sims told the outlet. “He took away two people who would have done anything for their family. They were the rock of our family … They didn’t deserve it.”
Executions in South Carolina resumed in September, when the state – once one of the leaders in executions – ended a 13-year halt in administering the death penalty.
It is one of just five states that authorize the use of firing squads in certain circumstances.
The chair in which John Albert Taylor was strapped into before being executed by a firing squad on Jan. 26, 1996, in Utah. (Lee Celano/Reuters)
Only three inmates, all in Utah, have been killed by firing squad in the U.S. since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.
Ronnie Gardner was the last prisoner to be executed by firing squad in 2010.
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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.
King did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Alexandra Koch is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital. Prior to joining Fox News, Alexandra covered breaking news, crime, religion, and the military in the southeast.