The overhaul of South Carolina’s death chamber was completed three years ago. Now, a team of sharpshooters is practicing its aim for what is poised to be the first firing squad execution in the state’s history on Friday.
Brad Sigmon, 67, is scheduled to be shot to death by the state of South Carolina on March 7, 2025. He would be the oldest person ever executed by South Carolina.
Death by firing squad remains an extremely uncommon form of capital punishment in the United States, with only three carried out since the death penalty was ruled constitutional in 1976. All three occurred in Utah — the last in 2010, according to the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center.
A century ago, Nevada executed a prisoner using an automated machine that fired the bullets so that no person had to.