South Carolina executed a convicted murderer by firing squad on Friday, the first use of the method in the United States in 15 years.
Brad Sigmon, 67, chose to be killed by a firing squad, saying he feared the alternatives of the electric chair or lethal injection would risk a slower and more torturous death.
Sigmon was pronounced dead at 6:08 pm ET, according to Chrysti Shain, a spokesperson for the South Carolina Department of Corrections.
Sigmon was convicted of beating to death his ex-girlfriend's parents, William and Gladys Larke, with a baseball bat at their home in the town of Taylors in 2001.
Executioners strapped him into a chair in a steel basin with a hood over his head and a target over his heart at the South Carolina Department of Corrections' execution chamber in Columbia. Three executioners fired live ammunition from 15 feet (4.5 meters) away.