Brad Sigmon, the first inmate to be executed in the nation by firing squad in 15 years, has died.
The death row inmate was escorted into South Carolina’s Broad River Correctional Institution execution chamber in Columbia shortly before 6 p.m., the time of his scheduled execution.
Three state Department of Corrections employees, who volunteered to execute him, stood behind a wall with a rectangular opening 15 feet away. Once Sigmon was strapped into a chair, executioners placed a hood over his head and a target on his heart.
His last statement was read to witnesses, who included three members of the victims’ family. It stated: “I want my closing statement to be one of love and a calling to my fellow Christians to help us end the death penalty. An eye for an eye was used as justification to the jury for seeking the death penalty. At that time, I was too ignorant to know how wrong that was.”
Sigmon’s statement continued with Bible verses and added: “Nowhere does God in the New Testament give man authority to kill another man.”
The warden read the execution warrant and the riflemen fired at 6:05 p.m. A doctor confirmed his death at 6:08 p.m. Staff then lowered the curtains.
Ronnie Gardner was the last person to be put to death in the U.S. by firing squad in June 2012 in Utah.
Sigmon chose to die by firing squad in February, weeks after the Corrections Department received his execution order. He had previously challenged officials in court over publicly available information regarding lethal injection executions.
After those efforts failed, he was forced to choose from the state’s three methods: lethal injection, electrocution and firing squad.
In 2021, the state passed a law allowing for firing squad executions and spent about $53,600 on supplies and materials to make renovations to its execution chamber. The construction and design work was done in-house, officials said in a news release.
The firing squad team has been formed since the law’s creation and its members practice once a month.
Sigmon ended up on death row in 2002 for murdering his ex-girlfriend’s parents, Gladys and David Larke, in Greenville County. He confessed to the killings and told authorities he struck them in the head with a baseball bat nine times each.
Sigmon had been dating Rebecca Barbare for about three years when their relationship ended in 2001. He told a friend after smoking crack and drinking that he wanted to get revenge on the woman for “leaving him the way she did” and “tie her parents up,” according to court records.
While the woman took her children to school, he entered her parents’ home and beat them to death. Barbare’s father’s skull “was basically almost broken in two,” according to court transcripts.
