Overview
- Bryant was pronounced dead at 6:05 p.m. at Broad River Correctional Institution after three volunteer prison employees with live ammunition fired on him.
- He was convicted of three killings in 2004, including the murder of Willard “T.J.” Tietjen, and investigators said he wrote “catch me if u can” on a wall using the victim’s blood.
- Bryant selected the firing squad over lethal injection or the electric chair; he was hooded, strapped to a chair, and marked with a red target over his heart as shooters stood 15 feet away.
- A last-minute appeal citing severe brain damage from prenatal exposure and childhood abuse was rejected by South Carolina’s high court, and Gov. Henry McMaster denied clemency.
- It was South Carolina’s third firing-squad execution in 2025 and part of a broader uptick in U.S. executions this year, as critics challenge the method and corrections officials defend their procedures.