{"id":23730,"date":"2025-03-09T16:34:46","date_gmt":"2025-03-09T16:34:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/?p=23730"},"modified":"2025-03-09T16:34:46","modified_gmt":"2025-03-09T16:34:46","slug":"witness-describes-what-he-saw-after-watching-death-row-inmate-executed-by-three-man-firing-squad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/?p=23730","title":{"rendered":"Witness describes what he saw after watching death row inmate executed by three-man firing squad"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Warning: This story contains details of an execution, some of which readers may find distressing<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

A witness has described what he saw after watching a death row inmate executed using a rare method on Friday (7 March).<\/p>\n

Brad Sigmon<\/a>\u00a0opted to be killed by a\u00a0three-man firing squad<\/a>\u00a0in South Carolina, making him the first inmate to be executed this way in the\u00a0US<\/a>\u00a0in 15 years.<\/p>\n

It is said the 67-year-old\u00a0chose this due to<\/a>\u00a0unclear details about the drugs used in lethal injections and fears they could take a longer time to kick in, and not wanting to be ‘burned and cooked alive’ by the electric chair.<\/p>\n

Sigmon was convicted of the 2001 killings of his ex-girlfriend\u2019s parents, David and Gladys Larke, with a baseball bat.<\/p>\n

While his brother and mum\u00a0did not attend\u00a0<\/a>on Friday evening, reporter Jeffrey Collins did.<\/p>\n

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\"He\"He<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

He opted to be killed by firing squad. (WLTX)<\/cite><\/div>\n

He has been witnessing executions in South Carolina for the Associated Press for 21 years, seeing 11 people killed using three methods.<\/p>\n

Speaking at a press conference this weekend, he described how Sigmon was strapped into a chair and \u2018unlike other executions\u2019 Collins has seen, was wearing \u2018a black jumpsuit, had black croc-like shoes on\u2019 and was completely strapped in.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt looked like there was a harness over him, there was a strap over his head, his ankles were shackled,\u201d Collins described. \u201cHe had a covering over his mouth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adding: \u201cHe had a target over his heart when the curtain opened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collins wrote a short essay for AP, detailing the execution.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s impossible to know what to expect when you\u2019ve never seen someone shot at close range right in front of you,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe firing squad is certainly faster \u2013 and more violent \u2013 than lethal injection. It\u2019s a lot more tense, too. My heart started pounding a little after Sigmon\u2019s lawyer read his final statement. The hood was put over Sigmon\u2019s head, and an employee opened the black pull shade that shielded where the three prison system volunteer shooters were.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
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\"Sigmon\"Sigmon<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Sigmon was executed on Friday. (South Carolina Department of Corrections)<\/cite><\/div>\n

The reporter explained that about two minutes after this, \u2018they fired\u2019 with no warning or countdown.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the white target with the red bullseye that had been on his chest, standing out against his black prison jumpsuit, disappeared instantly as Sigmon\u2019s whole body flinched,\u201d Collins wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cA jagged red spot about the size of a small fist appeared where Sigmon was shot. His chest moved two or three times. Outside of the rifle crack, there was no sound.<\/p>\n

\u201cA doctor came out in less than a minute, and his examination took about a minute more. Sigmon was declared dead at 6:08pm.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the\u00a0man\u2019s final statement<\/a>\u00a0before his execution he said: \u201cAn 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.<\/p>\n

“Why? Because we no longer live under the Old Testament law, but now live under the New Testament.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Warning: This story contains details of an execution, some of which readers may find distressing A witness has described what he saw after watching a death row … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23731,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23730"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23730\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23732,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23730\/revisions\/23732"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}