A South Carolina firing squad executed a man on Friday, making him the third person to die by firing squad in the state this year.

Three prison employees, all using live ammunition, volunteered to execute Stephen Bryant, 44, who was pronounced dead at 6:05 pm

Bryant, accused of murdering three people in five days in a rural area of ??the state in 2004, chose to die by firing squad rather than receive a lethal injection or be executed in the electric chair.

He made no final statement and looked briefly at the 10 witnesses before the hood was placed over his head, The New York Times reported.

The shots ranged out a few seconds later. Bryant made no sound, and the red target marking the location of his heart shot out of his chest. He had a few shallow breaths and then a final spasm a little over a minute later.

The pardon never came

Bryant is the seventh person executed in South Carolina in 14 months, after the state suspended executions for 13 years due to a shortage of lethal injection drugs.

Republican Governor Henry McMaster denied Bryant's request for clemency, his office said. No South Carolina governor has granted a pardon since the death penalty was reinstated in the United States in 1976. For his last meal, Bryant ate a spicy seafood stir-fry, fried fish with rice, spring rolls, stuffed shrimp, two chocolate bars, and German chocolate cake. Bo King, a South Carolina death penalty attorney, said Bryant suffered from a genetic disorder, was a victim of sexual and physical abuse by family members, and that his mother's excessive alcohol consumption "permanently damaged his body and brain." "Mr. Bryant's disabilities prevented him from coping with the traumatic memories of his childhood," King wrote in a statement.

Firing Squad

The firing squad has a long and violent history around the world. Death by bullets has been used to punish mutiny and desertion in armies, as justice in the Old West, and as a tool of terror and political repression in the former Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.

But in recent years, it has been revived in the United States. Some legislators claim it is the quickest and most humane way to execute a person.

This is due to several cases of botched executions using other methods, including lethal injection. South Carolina and other states have had difficulty maintaining an adequate supply of drugs for lethal injection.

Partly because of this, South Carolina suspended executions for 13 years.

The state summarized them in September 2024, after which four men were executed by lethal injection and three by firing squad. South Carolina is among several states where the electric chair is still legal. The other three recent executions by firing squad in the United States have taken place in Utah. This method also remains legal in Idaho and is used as an alternative if other methods are unavailable in Oklahoma and Mississippi. The Brutal Crime: Bryant confessed to murdering Willard “TJ” Tietjen in October 2004, after visiting his isolated home in rural Sumter County and telling him he was having car trouble. Tietjen was shot multiple times. According to the prosecution, Bryant answered Tietjen's phone after he ran several times and told his wife and daughter that he was the intruder and that he had killed him. Not content with that, he wrote "catch me if you can" on the wall with the victim's blood. Bryant also murdered two other men: one before and one after Tietjen. He drove them around in his vehicle, and when they got out to urinate on the side of the road, he shot them in the back, according to authorities. During the search, officers stopped nearly every driver traveling on dirt roads in the area east of Columbia and warned them to be wary of any strangers who asked for help. This is due to several cases of botched executions using other methods, including lethal injection. South Carolina and other states have had difficulty maintaining an adequate supply of drugs for lethal injection. In part because of this, South Carolina suspended executions for 13 years. The state summarized them in September 2024, after which four men were executed by lethal injection and three by firing squad. South Carolina is among several states where the electric chair is still legal. The other three recent executions by firing squad in the United States have taken place in Utah. This method also remains legal in Idaho and is used as an alternative if other methods are unavailable in Oklahoma and Mississippi.

The Brutal Crime

Bryant confessed to murdering Willard “TJ” Tietjen in October 2004, after visiting his isolated home in rural Sumter County and telling him he was having car trouble.

Tietjen was shot multiple times. According to the prosecution,Bryant answered Tietjen's phone after it rang several times and told his wife and daughter that he was the intruder and that he had killed him.

Not content with that, he wrote “catch me if you can” on the wall with the victim's blood.

Bryant also murdered two other men: one before and one after Tietjen. He gave them a ride in his vehicle and, when they got out to urinate on the side of the road, he shot them in the back, according to authorities. During the search, officers stopped nearly every driver traveling on dirt roads in the area east of Columbia and warned them to be wary of any stranger who asked for help. This is due to several cases of botched executions using other methods, including lethal injection. South Carolina and other states have had difficulty maintaining an adequate supply of drugs for lethal injection. In part because of this, South Carolina suspended executions for 13 years. The state summarized them in September 2024, after which four men were executed by lethal injection and three by firing squad. South Carolina is among several states where the electric chair is still legal. The other three recent executions by firing squad in the United States have taken place in Utah. This method also remains legal in Idaho and is used as an alternative if other methods are unavailable in Oklahoma and Mississippi.

The Brutal Crime

Bryant confessed to murdering Willard “TJ” Tietjen in October 2004, after visiting his isolated home in rural Sumter County and telling him he was having car trouble.

Tietjen was shot multiple times. According to the prosecution, Bryant answered Tietjen's phone after it rang several times and told his wife and daughter that he was the intruder and that he had killed him.

Not content with that, he wrote “catch me if you can” on the wall with the victim's blood.

Bryant also murdered two other men: one before and one after Tietjen. He gave them a ride in his vehicle and, when they got out to urinate on the side of the road, he shot them in the back, according to authorities. During the search, officers stopped nearly every driver traveling on dirt roads in the area east of Columbia and warned them to be wary of any stranger who asked for help. After visiting his isolated home in rural Sumter County and telling him he was having car trouble.

Tietjen was shot multiple times. According to the prosecution, Bryant answered Tietjen's phone after it rang several times and told his wife and daughter that he was the intruder and that he had killed him.

Not content with that, he wrote "catch me if you can" on the wall with the victim's blood.

Bryant also murdered two other men: one before and one after Tietjen. He gave them rides in his vehicle, and when they got out to urinate on the side of the road,he shot them in the back, according to authorities.

During the search, officers stopped nearly every driver traveling on dirt roads in the area east of Columbia and warned them to be wary of any strangers who asked for help.

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