South Carolina carried out the execution of Brad Sigmon by firing squad at the Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia.

The execution Friday at  6 p.m. marked the first use of this method in the United States in 15 years and the first ever in South Carolina.

Sigmon, a 67-year-old convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend’s parents with a baseball bat in 2001, was pronounced dead shortly after three volunteer corrections officers fired rifles with live ammunition from 15 feet away, targeting a bullseye over his heart.

Jeffrey Collins of the Associated Press, present at the execution, reported the sequence of events. The curtain opened at 6:01 P.M. ET, revealing Sigmon strapped to a chair, dressed in a black jumpsuit and black Crocs, with a covering over his mouth.

He looked toward his attorney, who then read his final statement. A target with a bullseye marked his heart. A hood was placed over his head as he was facing a brick wall. At 6:05 P.M. EST, the shots were fired.

A red stain appeared over the target, and less than a minute later, a doctor examined Sigmon for about 90 seconds before confirming his death at 6:08 P.M. EST.

The execution proceeded after the South Carolina Supreme Court rejected Sigmon’s final appeal earlier this week, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene.

Governor Henry McMaster also denied clemency, consistent with the state’s history—no South Carolina governor has granted clemency since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.

Sigmon had chosen the firing squad over lethal injection or electrocution, citing concerns about the state’s secretive lethal injection process, which his legal team argued risked a prolonged or painful death.

The event has sparked varied reactions. Critics, including firearms experts and death penalty opponents, labeled it “barbaric” and raised concerns about safety and cruelty, while some supporters see it as a reliable alternative to problematic lethal injections.

The execution chamber, retrofitted at a cost of $53,600, was designed to accommodate this method, legalized in 2021 due to difficulties sourcing lethal injection drugs.

Sigmon’s death marks a notable moment in U.S. capital punishment history, being only the fourth firing squad execution since 1976, following three prior instances in Utah, the last in 2010.