A second South Carolina death row prisoner has chosen to die by firing squad, just weeks after the state carried out the US' first execution by bullets in over a decade.
Mikal Mahdi, 41, opted for the firing squad on Friday (March 28), with his execution now set for April 11.
He was convicted of killing Orangeburg public safety officer James Myers in July 2004, using a gun stolen from the officer’s own shed.
Prosecutors said Mahdi ambushed Myers at his Calhoun County shed, returning from a birthday celebration with his wife, sister, and daughter, The Guardian reports.
Myers’ burned body was discovered by his wife, shot at least eight times, including twice in the head, in the same shed where the couple had wed less than 15 months earlier.
After selecting his fate, Mahdi will be strapped into a chair, 15 feet from three volunteer prison employees who will each fire a live round. A target will be placed on his chest; the bullets are designed to shatter upon impact with his rib cage, per The Daily Mail.
Mahdi's decision comes just five weeks after Brad Sigmon became the first inmate in the United States since 2010 to be executed by firing squad.
The Execution of Brad Sigmon
Sigmon, 67, chose bullets over the electric chair or lethal injection, reportedly due to concerns over the effectiveness of the drugs used in injections.
Sigmon was sentenced to death for the brutal 2001 beating deaths of his ex-girlfriend’s parents, David and Gladys Larke. Prosecutors said he struck each of them nine times in the head with a baseball bat, moving between rooms in their Greenville County home.
Witnesses to Sigmon’s execution on March 7 gave harrowing accounts of what unfolded inside South Carolina’s execution chamber.
"Just after 6 p.m. on March 7, the curtain hiding South Carolina’s execution chamber jerks open. From my front-row seat, the room reveals itself in phases," his attorney Bo King wrote for USA Today. "First, two wardens. Next, the lethal injection gurney and ancient electric chair. Finally, its newest method of execution: a slanted chair in the far corner, facing a short black curtain in the right wall. The man tied to the chair is my client, Brad Sigmon."
Sigmon’s attorney described the moment with vivid detail, writing: "Brad is strapped across his ankles, lap and waist. His right arm has been wrenched straight back and tied to the chair. A white square with a red bull's-eye is attached to his chest, where it rises and falls with his breathing."
“He keeps mouthing words until we understand him. ‘I’m OK. I love you. I’m OK.’”
The execution began shortly after Sigmon’s final words were read aloud: “I want my closing statement to be one of love and a calling to my fellow Christians to help us end the death penalty.”
King continued: “I make myself smile. I hold Brad’s eyes, my hand over my heart, until someone – I do not see who – pulls a black hood over his head. Ours are the last faces he sees,” the attorney wrote.
Inside the witness room, attendees were handed orange earplugs as a black curtain lifted to reveal three square ports. "I peer inside the ports," King continued. "I cannot see even the tips of the rifles. I look back to Brad. His breathing has slowed. He is trying to still himself.
“A wound opens on his chest before the sound reaches us. The target is gone. Maybe the bullets vaporized it. Maybe they pushed it into the fist-sized hole streaming blood over Brad’s stomach and into his lap.
“When the sound arrives, it is a chorus of explosions. Each of the three bullets makes its own noise, with its own echo, and cuts through the foam to ring in my ears. For a second, they stop my heart.”
“Brad’s body shudders. His arm launches forward, pulling on the restraints with all of his strength. For a second, I think he will break free and press his hands over the hole, holding and pushing himself back together.”
King then details how "a man entered the chamber with a stethoscope" in order to call the death.
"He leans in again, darting the stethoscope from place to place," she said. "When he steps back again, he turns away and nods."
AP reporter Jeffrey Collins, who has witnessed 11 executions over 21 years, also observed the execution and shared a detailed account.
“It’s impossible to know what to expect when you’ve never seen someone shot at close range right in front of you,” Collins wrote, via The Guardian. “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 Sigmon’s head, and an employee opened the black pull 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.”
“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.”
Sigmon was declared dead at 6:08PM.
Collins reflected on the impact of the moment: “I won’t forget the crack of the rifles 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.”
Sigmon’s attorneys condemned the process as “barbaric,” criticizing the state for forcing inmates to choose how they die.
In his final message, Sigmon wrote: “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.”
Now, with Mikal Mahdi set to face the same fate, South Carolina prepares for a second firing squad execution in just over a month—a method not used in the United States in 15 years, now re-emerging under the weight of grim choices.