US prisoner executed by firing squad for 1st time in 15 years

A death row prisoner in South Carolina was executed by firing squad on Friday, making him the first American inmate in 15 years to receive that method of capital punishment.

In 2001, Brad Sigmon, 67, was convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend’s parents, David and Gladys Larke, with a baseball bat before kidnapping their daughter at gunpoint. She escaped while he fired shots at her.

Sigmon chose to be put to death by firing squad in February (South Carolina state law requires inmates to decide how they will be executed).

Inmates can elect to die by lethal injec­tion, elec­tro­cu­tion, or fir­ing squad, according to the Death Penalty Information Centre.

Inmates sentenced to death by firing squad are strapped to a chair when they enter the execution chamber with a target stuck over their hearts and a bag placed over their head.