A DOUBLE murderer has been executed by firing squad—this is the first time in 15 years a convict has chosen to die by gun.
The killer had smashed in the skulls of his ex’s parents while high on crack cocaine.
This from the-sun.com-news.
Brad Sigmon continued breathing after special bullets were shot into his heart by three volunteer riflemen at the South Carolina Department of Corrections in Columbia on Friday evening.
Protesters gathered outside the SC Department of Corrections ahead of the execution.
David and Gladys Larke were murdered by Sigmon with a baseball bat in 2001.
Sigmon, 67, was convicted of beating to death with a baseball bat his ex-girlfriend’s parents, David and Gladys Larke, at their Taylors home in 2001.
He chose the firing squad over the electric chair or lethal injection, which he feared would cook him alive and make it feel like he was drowning.
The death row inmate of 23 years wore a black jumpsuit with a hood over his head as he was strapped into a chair.
A bullseye target showed the executioners where to shoot as they took aim from 15ft away behind a curtain.
Sigmon breathed heavily as he awaited the rain of bullets.
All three gunmen opened fire at the same time, in front of approximately a dozen witnesses.
Sigmon tensed briefly when he was shot, the target was blasted off his chest, and he appeared to give another breath or two as a red stain spread across his chest.
A doctor entered the death chamber to examine Sigmon about a minute later, before declaring him dead at 6:08 p.m.
