Overview
- Bryant, 44, was pronounced dead at 6:05 p.m. ET Friday at Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia, according to state corrections officials.
- He chose gunfire over the electric chair or lethal injection; the protocol straps the inmate to a chair, places an aim point over the heart, and has three volunteer officers fire from about 15 feet.
- The South Carolina Supreme Court declined last-minute relief after defense lawyers argued the sentencing failed to weigh alleged prenatal brain damage and severe childhood abuse.
- Bryant was convicted in the 2004 killings of three men during a multi-day spree that included a taunting message written in one victim’s blood.
- This was South Carolina’s third firing-squad execution in 2025, reflecting a broader national rise in executions this year as states pursue alternatives to scarce injection drugs.