ONE terrible night 24 years ago, factory worker Brad Sigmon stayed up smoking crack cocaine and planning violent revenge.
He was going to kidnap the girlfriend who had jilted him after five years.
AFPBrad Sigmon, 67, became the first man to be executed by firing squad in the United States in 15 years[/caption]
SuppliedSigmon was strapped into a chair, a red bullseye placed over his chest, and executed for his crime by firing squad[/caption]
SuppliedRebecca’s parents Gladys, 59, and David Larke, 62, were brutally murdered by Sigmon[/caption]
But it didn’t play out like that. He ended up bludgeoning her parents to death with a baseball bat and shooting her when she jumped from his car to escape.
On Friday, in a sparse room at Broad River Correctional Institute in Columbia, South Carolina, the double murderer was strapped into a chair, a red bullseye placed over his chest, and executed for his crime by firing squad.
Sigmon, 67, became the first man to be executed by firing squad in the United States in 15 years.
Given the choice between a hail of bullets exploding in his heart and either lethal injection or the electric chair, Sigmon put his trust in three marksmen.
The trio of volunteer prison guards fired at him from 15ft away behind a wall with a small opening.
The news of those shots rang out around the world, heralding a more unforgiving approach to justice in the United States.
President Donald Trump has vowed to restart the federal executions that were paused under former leader Joe Biden four years ago.
On his first week back in office in January he signed an executive action ordering the attorney general to “pursue the death penalty for all crimes of a severity demanding its use.”
The choice of a final meal and a hood to cover his eyes were two of the accommodations afforded to Sigmon.
The killer was given Kentucky Fried Chicken, mashed potato and cheesecake before heading to the chair wearing a black jumpsuit.
A prison worker then pulled up a horizontal slit in a wall to reveal the barrels of the rifles.
The death chamber was filled with the tension of silence, with neither the witnesses nor Sigmon knowing when the triggers would be pulled.
Associated Press reporter Jeffrey Collins, who was watching his eleventh death row execution, said: “There was no warning or countdown.
“The abrupt crack of the rifles startled me. And the white target with the red bullseye that had been on his chest, standing out against his black prison jumpsuit, disappeared instantly as Sigmon’s whole body flinched.
“A 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.”
Less than a minute later a doctor examined Sigmon’s body and declared him dead at 6.08 pm.
SuppliedSigmon planned to kidnap his girlfriend Rebecca Barbare, shoot her and then shoot himself[/caption]
SuppliedDouble murderer Brad Sigmon pictured in 1990[/caption]
The .308 Winchester Tap Urban bullets which explode on impact inside the body had been as lethal as they are designed to be.
But Sigmon’s lawyer Bo King thought that his client’s arm trembled “as if he was trying to break free from the restraints” once they had gone in.
He added: “It is unfathomable that, in 2025, South Carolina would execute one of its citizens in this bloody spectacle.”
Another witness, journalist Anna Dobbins, also suggested there had been some movement.
She said: “His arms flexed. There was something in his midsection that moved – I’m not necessarily going to call them breaths, I don’t really know – but there was some movement that went on there for two or three seconds.”
Collins, who has also seen the lethal injection and the electric chair used, felt that the firing squad was “much quicker.”
The aim of the prison guards was certainly much better than that of Sigmon.
In April 2001, high on crack cocaine, he decided to take revenge on Rebecca Barbare for jilting him.
His plan was to kidnap his girlfriend, shoot her and then shoot himself.
Sigmon later told police officers that if he couldn’t have her, ‘nobody could.’
He tied up Rebecca’s parents Gladys, 59, and David Larke, 62 ,at their rural property in Greenville County, South Carolina, and hit them both around the head nine times each until they were dead.
Sigmon then took David’s gun, waited for Rebecca to come home and then bundled her into his SUV.
Eric Seals/The State/Tribune News Service via Getty ImagesWitnesses sat behind three inch thick bullet proof glass and the firing squad stood behind a brick wall[/caption]
SuppliedA trio of volunteer prison guards fired at Sigmon from 15ft away[/caption]
She knew she had to escape.
As they sped along a South Carolina highway at 60mph Rebecca leapt from the car and made a desperate dash for her life.
Brad Sigmon chased his victim down, firing at least three shots – but she was only hit in the foot.
Despite the unfathomable crimes inflicted on Rebecca, 59, and her parents she did not agree with his life being extinguished.
She said: “I don’t think somebody being put to death is gonna bring me closure.
“It bothers me and gives me anxiety about him being put to death, and especially him picking the firing squad.”
Ever since being found guilty of Gladys and David’s murder in 2002, Sigmon has been waiting on death row.
He admitted killing the defenceless David and Gladys.
But after being incarcerated Sigmon found religion and expressed remorse for his crimes.
Rebecca said: “The Bible tells you, I know it says ‘an eye for an eye’ and ‘a tooth for a tooth’ but if you read on down in there it says, ‘Revenge is not mine, says the Lord, revenge is God’s.”
Not everyone in her family agrees.
I don’t think somebody being put to death is gonna bring me closure.
Rebecca Barbare
Prior to the execution Rebecca’s son Ricky Sims, 40, objected to Sigmon’s attempts to appeal against the death penalty.
He said: “He’s just trying to prolong something that should have been done 20 years ago.”
Prior to leaving office, the previous US President Joe Biden had commuted 37 out of 40 federal death sentences to life in prison.
But Sigmon was on South Carolina’s execution list and did not receive a reprieve.
It is one of only 23 US states which currently maintain the death penalty and each of them has been grappling with the most reliable means of carrying out that sentence.
In 1983 it took 24 minutes for John Louis Evans III to die on the electric chair, eye witnesses reporting the stomach churning smell of burnt flesh each time the high voltage shocks failed to finish him off in Alabama.
Five years later two tubes administering a lethal injection to Raymond Landry in Texas came loose, with one squirting the deadly mixture over the nearby witnesses.
South Carolina wanted to make sure its firing squad at the Broad River Correctional Institute in Columbia did not fail.
There was to be no chance of stray bullets hitting any bystanders.
The witnesses sat behind three inch thick bullet proof glass and the firing squad stood behind a brick wall.
The US has struggled to get hold of the lethal sedatives due to export bans, but Trump wants his chief legal adviser to do everything possible to increase the supply.
The president has made it clear he wants to speed up the rate of executions, with over two thousand US prisoners on death row.
There might be more joining them.
Trump last week called for all cop killers to be given the death penalty and recently suggested drug dealers should also face the ultimate sanction.
Risk of wrongful execution
According to opinion polls the majority of Americans agree with him, with 53 percent supporting the death penalty.
In Britain the thirst for no nonsense justice is even greater.
A sample of 2,000 adults in the UK revealed that 55 percent of people supported the return of capital punishment, which was abolished in 1965.
Murderers Peter Anthony Allen and Gwynne Owen were the last murderers to suffer that fate by hanging in 1964.
The Sun recently reported how Britain is considering importing the Texan correctional policy of tying an offender’s release date to work done in prison.
But a return to the death penalty is unlikely here, because both Labour and the Conservatives are opposed.
And campaigners against capital punishment argue that there is always a risk of wrongful execution.
It is believed that around 21 men who were put to death in the US since 1981 might have been innocent.
Even though Sigmon selected death by firing squad, he certainly did not want to die.
The last words he asked to be said on his behalf were: “I want my closing statement to be one of love and a calling to my fellow Christians to help us end the death penalty.”
I watched bullets hit chest
I’VE now watched through glass and bars as 11 men were put to death at a South Carolina prison. None of the previous ten prepared me for watching the firing squad death of Brad Sigmon.
I’ve witnessed three different methods – nine lethal injections and an electric chair execution. I can still hear the thunk of the breaker falling 21 years later.
The firing squad is certainly faster – and more violent – than lethal injection. It’s a lot more tense, too. My heart started pounding a little after Sigmon’s lawyer read his final statement.
The hood was put over his head, and an employee opened the shade that shielded where the three prison system volunteer shooters were.
About two minutes later, they fired. There was no warning or countdown. The abrupt crack of the rifles startled me.
And the white target with the red bullseye that had been on his chest, standing out against his black prison jumpsuit, disappeared instantly as Sigmon’s whole body flinched.
I tried to keep track, all at once, of the digital clock on the wall to my right, Sigmon to my left, the small, rectangular window with the shooters and the witnesses in front of me.
A jagged red spot about the size of a small fist appeared where Sigmon was shot. His chest moved two or three times. Apart from the rifle crack, there was no sound. A doctor came out in less than a minute, and his examination took about a minute more. Sigmon was declared dead at 6.08pm.
Then we left through the same door we came in. The sun was setting. The sky was a pretty pink and purple, a stark contrast to the death chamber’s fluorescent lights, gray firing squad chair and block walls that reminded me of a 1970s doctor’s office.
I remember other executions. I’ve seen family members of victims stare down a killer on the gurney. I’ve seen a mother shed tears as she watched her son die, almost close enough to touch if the glass and bars weren’t in the way.
Like that thunk of the breaker in 2004, I won’t forget the crack of the rifles on Friday and that target disappearing.
Also etched in my mind: Sigmon talking or mouthing toward his lawyer, trying to let him know he was OK before the hood went on.
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