Double murderer Brad Sigmon becomes first US death row inmate to die by firing squad in 15 years

A double murderer became the first US death row inmate to die by firing squad in 15 years — and he personally chose the violent execution method.

WARNING: Distressing

A convicted double murderer in South Carolina became the first American death row inmate to die by firing squad in 15 years — and his execution was the first of its kind to be performed in the Palmetto State.

Brad Sigmon, 67, was pronounced dead at 6.08pm on Friday after three state corrections department volunteers armed with rifles lined up behind a wall about 15 feet (4.6 metres) away and fired off shots at a target on the hooded killer’s heart at 6.05pm.

For his last words, Sigmon cited four Bible quotes that he said revealed that “nowhere does God in the New Testament give man the authority to kill another man” before he was put to death.

Brad Sigmon. Picture: South Carolina Department of Corrections/AFP

“I want my closing statement to be one of love and a calling to my fellow Christians to help us end the death penalty,” he said, according to USA Today, which cited his attorneys.

“We are now under God’s grace and mercy.”

Sigmon, who was convicted of bludgeoning his ex-girlfriend’s parents, David and Gladys Larke, to death with a baseball bat in 2001, personally chose the violent punishment over the electric chair or lethal injection.

He became the fourth inmate in the US to be put to death by the unusual method since 1976.

The firing squad chair. Picture: South Carolina Department of Corrections/AP

Sigmon wore a black jumpsuit and was hooded as he was strapped into a metal chair that sat on top of a catch basin inside the death chamber at Broad River Correction Institution in Columbia.

A white target with a red bullseye was placed over his chest as the trained volunteers simultaneously opened fire through openings in the wall using .308-calibre Winchester 100-grain TAP Urban bullets.

The bullets blasted the target off Sigmon’s chest, who appeared to breathe once or twice as blood and small amounts of tissue could be seen through his wounds.

His arms briefly tensed when he was struck, with a doctor examining him for about 90 seconds before declaring him dead.

The firing squad was not visible to the roughly 12 witnesses who were seated in a room separated from the chamber by bullet-resistant glass.

A crowd of protesters gathered outside Broad River Correctional Institution ahead of his execution.

Protesters demonstrate outside the scheduled execution on Friday. Picture: Chris Carlson/AP

Sigmon chose the firing squad, believing that he’d die a torturous death from lethal injections.

He was found guilty of murdering his ex-girlfriend Rebecca Barbare’s parents after he forced his way into their home in Greenville County and beat them to death with a baseball bat.

David, 62, and Gladys, 59, were in separate rooms as Sigmon went back and forth bashing them with the bat.

The husband’s “skull was basically broken in two”, the court heard during his trial.

He then kidnapped his Ms Barbare at gunpoint, but she escaped from his car — shooting her as she ran but she survived, according to prosecutors.

Sigmond had been smoking crack cocaine and drinking on the night of the slayings when he told a friend he would “get Becky for leaving him the way she did”, and “tie her parents up”, according to court documents.

Randy Gardner’s brother Ronnie was the last person executed by firing squad. Picture: Chris Carlson/AP

In a confession, Sigmon said, “I couldn’t have her, I wasn’t going to let anybody else have her.”

He planned to kill both Ms Barbare and them himself, he later testified to officers.

The convicted killer was on the run for 11 days before police caught up with him in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

Sigmon has since claimed he was forced to choose his violent death, arguing he wasn’t given information about the lethal injection method when he decided how to end his life.

South Carolina law requires death row inmates to select their own method of execution — lethal injection, electric chair or firing squad. If no choice is made, the default option is the electric chair.

His attorney made a last-minute appeal to save his life, which was rejected earlier on Friday by South Carolina’s Supreme Court.

Republican Governor Henry McMaster, who had the option to commute Sigmon’s death sentence moments before the execution began, opted to allow the process to proceed.

No South Carolina governor has granted clemency in the 49 years since the death penalty restarted.

Sigmon, who enjoyed three buckets of KFC that he shared with his death row buddies as his last meal, is the oldest of the 46 South Carolina inmates who have been executed since the death penalty was restarted in the US in 1976.

This article originally appeared on NY Post and was reproduced with permission