Brad Sigmon, a 67-year-old death row inmate, was sentenced to death in 2002 for the brutal murders of his ex-girlfriend Rebecca Barbre’s parents in Greenville County.

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According to CBS News, Sigmon beat them to death with a baseball bat before kidnapping Barbre at gunpoint. She managed to escape from his car as he attempted to shoot her.

In addition to receiving two death sentences, the prisoner was handed a 30-year prison term for first-degree burglary.

Over the years, Sigmon’s legal team filed multiple appeals but failed, leaving the prisoner with one last hope – an intervention from Governor Henry McMaster.

His attorney, Bo King, made a last-minute plea for clemency for his client just hours before he was set to become the first person executed by firing squad in South Carolina on Friday, March 7.

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He argued that the inmate was denied critical information regarding lethal injection when it was still an option.

“He wanted to know had the drugs expired, had they been diluted, had they spoiled? And none of those facts were disclosed despite his repeated requests,” King told WYFF4, cited by The New York Post.

King is also contesting the death penalty itself, stating that Sigmon was suffering from a mental illness at the time of his crimes.

“The death penalty is intended for the worst of the worst, and so in a case like Brad’s, the evidence that he’s experiencing the psychotic break, that he’s not competent at the time of trial, we think that argues against the imposition of the sentence,” he added.

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South Carolina grants death row inmates the option of execution by electric chair, lethal injection, or firing squad.

However, with lethal injection drugs unavailable and the electric chair already in use, Sigmon’s fate was sealed with the state’s first-ever execution by firing squad in 15 years.

His execution took place just after 18:00PM local time on Friday. According to BBC News, Sigmon shared his final words to the witnesses, which were: “An 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. Why? Because we no longer live under the Old Testament law but now live under the New Testament,” he added.

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Following his statement, Sigmon was strapped to a chair equipped with a basin beneath it to collect blood, and a hood was placed over his head.

At 6:01PM, a curtain concealing the executioners was drawn back. Without any countdown, three state corrections department volunteers fired at his chest from approximately 15 feet away.

Chrysti Shain of the South Carolina Department of Corrections confirmed that a doctor pronounced Sigmon dead at 6:08PM. Witnessing the execution were three members of the Larke family, as well as Sigmon’s spiritual adviser.

Jeffrey Collins of the Associated Press, who witnessed the execution, described how Sigmon had a red bullseye target placed over his heart.