India, March 9 -- Brad Sigmon became the first person to be executed by firing squad in South Carolina and the first in the United States to die by this method since 2003.

The 67-year-old inmate, who had the option to choose between lethal injection, the electric chair, or the newly implemented firing squad, opted for the latter due to concerns over previous botched lethal injections.

Jeffrey Collins, a reporter for The Associated Press and one of the witnesses present during the execution, narrated the whole scenario.

Sigmon was dressed in a black jumpsuit and was "completely strapped into" a chair. "My heart started pounding a little after Sigmon's lawyer read his final statement. The hood was put over Sigmon's head, and an employee ...