
South Carolina man Brad Sigmon faces firing squad execution today, first such execution in 15 years
CBSN
A South Carolina man is facing execution by firing squad Friday — the first execution of its kind in the U.S. since 2010 and just the fourth firing squad execution since the death penalty resumed in the country 49 years ago.
When the clock strikes 6 on Friday evening, 67-year-old Brad Sigmon is scheduled to walk into the death chamber, be strapped into a chair and have a target placed over his heart, unless the governor or the U.S. Supreme Court grants him a last-minute reprieve. He could say last words before a hood is placed over his head and three volunteers armed with rifles fire bullets designed to shatter on impact.
Sigmon, who admitted to killing his ex-girlfriend's parents with a baseball bat and kidnapped her after she refused to come back to him, said he chose to die by bullets because he considered the other choices offered by the state to be worse.

Hannah Thompson, 17, was on the run, heading out of Simpsonville, South Carolina with her boyfriend, U.S. Army soldier John Blauvelt. On Oct. 26, 2016, Cati Blauvelt, his wife of just a few months, had been found stabbed to death, her body left in a concrete box in an abandoned farmhouse. The knife blade broken off and left in her neck.