A South Carolina triple murderer has become the third inmate executed by firing squad in the state this year.
Stephen Bryant, 44, was pronounced dead at 6:05 p.m. Friday at the Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia. He admitted to killing Willard "TJ" Tietjen in October 2004 after stopping by his secluded home in Sumter County and saying he had car trouble. Bryant also shot and killed two other men, one before and one after Tietjen, in the same month, authorities said.
Bryant chose to die by firing squad over lethal injection and the electric chair last month. He made no final statement and briefly glanced toward the 10 witnesses before the hood was placed on his head, according to The Associated Press.
ROSAL
Bye.
Nice is overrated
"It's every freedom-loving individual's duty to lie to the government." Airsoftguy, June 29, 2018
November 16, 2025, 11:45 AM
12131
Did they use the .44 magnum?
Q
November 16, 2025, 11:52 AM
2BobTanner
This brings up a question or two; do they put a paper target over the heart for an aiming point and how many members on a team ? Are headshots allowed ?
--------------------- DJT-45/47 MAGA !!!!!
“Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur.”
"Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it." — Mark Twain
“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.” — H. L. Mencken
November 16, 2025, 11:54 AM
Phred
According to this article from the local news, the use “high powered rifles”
The curtain opens in the death chamber of the prison with fewer than a dozen witnesses sitting behind bulletproof glass.
The person is strapped into a chair. A white square with a red bull’s-eye target is placed over his heart by a doctor. Their lawyer can read a final statement. A prison employee then places a hood over the person’s head, walks across the small room and pulls open a black shade where the firing squad waits.
Without an audible or visual warning to witnesses, the shooters then fire high-powered rifles from 15 feet (4.6 meters) away.
November 16, 2025, 12:04 PM
cslinger
quote:
Are headshots allowed ?
Not to be gruesome or ghoulish but I've always wondered why this was not the case. It SEEMS like any rifle round to the head would be far more instantaneous, humane if you will, then a heart shot. I realize not all shooters typically have live ammo and that the head is a small target etc. but why not a "robotic" type thing to do the deed up close?
Again this is not meant to be a ghoulish/how ghastly can you make the process but more of a if you are performing an execution by firing squad wouldn't it be faster/more humane.
Luckily I don't have the answers to these questions.
Take Care, Shoot Safe, Chris
November 16, 2025, 12:08 PM
BlackTalonJHP
At 15 feet, I would think medium-powered rifles would be just fine. I'm sure someone here will know the caliber, rifle make/model, etc.
November 16, 2025, 12:25 PM
egregore
quote:
Bryant chose to die by firing squad over lethal injection and the electric chair last month.
Can't blame him for nixing the lethal injection.
"The Almighty, He put some livin' things on this earth so a man can eat." - Festus Haggen, Gunsmoke
November 16, 2025, 12:46 PM
12131
He was 44. Hence, my question.
Q
November 16, 2025, 12:48 PM
OttoSig
I wasn’t aware any states were using this means of execution. Consider me a fan!
Where can I buy tickets or contribute to the cause?
Nine years to retirement! Just waiting!
November 16, 2025, 12:48 PM
Prefontaine
I have always believed in the eyes being a gateway into the soul. Look at that now dead man’s eyes. That’s a fucking tortured soul. Enjoy hell, you earned it buddy.
What am I doing? I'm talking to an empty telephone
November 16, 2025, 12:54 PM
ArtieS
We had a member here many years ago, WilliamTheCoroner, who did a paper on that for one of the medical societies.
His conclusion was that a 12 gauge shotgun with 00 buck to the base of the skull at the back was the quickest and most humane means of execution.
The speed of the pellets ensured that death occurred before either nerves or sound could react before destruction of the brain stem, and that the use of a shotgun with buck ensured that a single rifle shot could not be missed or deflected by the spine, or otherwise fail to completely destroy the medulla.
Gruesome, with facts.
"I vowed to myself to fight against evil more completely and more wholeheartedly than I ever did before. . . . That’s the only way to pay back part of that vast debt, to live up to and try to fulfill that tremendous obligation."
Alfred Hornik, Sunday, December 2, 1945 to his family, on his continuing duty to others for surviving WW II.
November 16, 2025, 01:02 PM
Tn226
quote:
Originally posted by ArtieS: We had a member here many years ago, WilliamTheCoroner, who did a paper on that for one of the medical societies.
His conclusion was that a 12 gauge shotgun with 00 buck to the base of the skull at the back was the quickest and most humane means of execution.
The speed of the pellets ensured that death occurred before either nerves or sound could react before destruction of the brain stem, and that the use of a shotgun with buck ensured that a single rifle shot could not be missed or deflected by the spine, or otherwise fail to completely destroy the medulla.
Wouldn't that pretty much decapitate? Messy too. But effective
November 16, 2025, 02:06 PM
RogueJSK
quote:
Originally posted by cslinger:
quote:
Are headshots allowed ?
Not to be gruesome or ghoulish but I've always wondered why this was not the case.
Shots to the chest would allow the convict's family to still have an open casket funeral, versus shots to the head.
In addition, unless the head is restrained, the head moves around much more than the torso, so it's easier to make center mass hits than hits to the head. (Same reason why LEOs are typically trained to shoot for center mass, in most situations.)
November 16, 2025, 02:36 PM
honestlou
I hope they used iron sights and sighted in for 15 feet. Rarely do you shoot a rifle at that distance, and I certainly wouldn’t want an optic mounted a couple of inches above the bore.
November 16, 2025, 03:03 PM
RogueJSK
quote:
Originally posted by honestlou: I hope they used iron sights and sighted in for 15 feet. Rarely do you shoot a rifle at that distance, and I certainly wouldn’t want an optic mounted a couple of inches above the bore.
With an AR or similar rifle, even the iron sights are still a couple inches above the bore.
You just have to remember your sight/optic is offset and aim slightly high at very close ranges if you need to make an extra precise shot.
Or in this case, if they had dedicated rifles that were only used for execution purposes and could sight their iron sights for ultra short distance, they could have also just done the same with their optics too.
But even if they don't either aim sightly high or sight it in ultra close, a couple inch offset isn't enough to completely miss the heart at ~5 yards.
November 16, 2025, 03:31 PM
Plugugly
Here's a Garandthumb video about a few different execution methods from around the world, if you're bored. Targets are ballistic dummies.
This is likely more theater than science, but I found it interesting.
I wasn’t aware any states were using this means of execution ...
Utah. I don't recall offhand when it was last actually used, but it has been on the books for decades.
"The Almighty, He put some livin' things on this earth so a man can eat." - Festus Haggen, Gunsmoke
November 16, 2025, 08:34 PM
ElToro
I’m aware of someone that put a motorcycle helmet on then suicide themselves by shotgun under the chin. Assume buck not slug but slug would do the trick as well.
November 16, 2025, 08:47 PM
clubleaf206
quote:
Originally posted by egregore:
quote:
I wasn’t aware any states were using this means of execution ...
Utah. I don't recall offhand when it was last actually used, but it has been on the books for decades.
Gary Gilmore. In the 1980s, if I recall correctly. And they used 30-30 lever actions.
___________________________________________________________________________ "....imitate the action of the Tiger."
November 16, 2025, 09:22 PM
bustabuddy
I think it was around 1976 or so. A guy in my dorm was obsessed with it.
