Mar 7, 2025 - Politics & Policy

South Carolina to carry out first U.S. firing squad execution since 2010

Ivana Saric

Protestors demonstrate against the use of capital punishment — Protestors gather outside Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia, South Carolina. Photo: Tracy Glantz/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

A South Carolina prisoner is set to be executed via firing squad on Friday, the first time the method has ever been used in the state.

The big picture: The execution of Brad Sigmon will also mark the first time in 15 years that an inmate in the U.S. has been put to death using a firing squad, AP reported.

Sigmon, who was convicted in 2001 of killing his ex-girlfriend's parents, chose the method over dying by electric chair or lethal injection.
His execution is scheduled to take place at 6pm local time, barring an 11th-hour intervention from the Supreme Court or South Carolina governor's office, per NBC News.

Zoom out: Firing squad executions are extremely rare in the U.S. Only five states — Mississippi, Oklahoma, Utah, South Carolina, Idaho — authorize the method, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Only three inmates have been executed by firing squad in the U.S. since 1976 — when the Supreme Court reaffirmed the constitutionality of capital punishment. All three cases took place in Utah, with the last one occurring in 2010.
In 2021, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster signed a bill requiring death row inmates to choose between firing squad or the electric chair, or lethal injection if the drugs are available.

Go deeper: South Carolina OKs firing-squad executions

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South Carolina to carry out first U.S. firing squad execution since 2010

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