Second South Carolina inmate chooses execution by firing squad

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A second South Carolina death row inmate has chosen execution by firing squad. 

Mikal Mahdi, 41, will be put to death on April 11 after pleading guilty to murder for killing a police officer in 2004.  

“Faced with barbaric and inhumane choices, Mikal Mahdi has chosen the lesser of three evils,” one of his lawyers, David Weiss, said in a statement. “Mikal chose the firing squad instead of being burned and mutilated in the electric chair, or suffering a lingering death on the lethal injection gurney.” 

Brad Sigmon chose to be shot to death in South Carolina on March 7, becoming the first prisoner executed by firing squad in the U.S. in 15 years. A doctor pronounced Sigmon dead less than three minutes after three bullets struck him. 

SOUTH CAROLINA SETS DATE FOR 5th EXECUTION IN UNDER 7 MONTHS 

Mikal Mahdi, 41, is set to be executed on April 11 at 6 p.m. at a prison in Columbia.  (South Carolina Department of Corrections via AP)

Only three other inmates in the U.S. have been executed by this method since 1976, and all were in Utah. 

Mahdi stole a gun and a car in Virginia on July 14, 2004, when he was 21, arrest records show. The next day, he shot and killed a North Carolina store clerk as the clerk was checking his identification. A couple of days later, he carjacked someone at an intersection in Columbia, South Carolina. 

On July 18, 2004, while on the run after those crimes, Mahdi hid in Orangeburg, South Carolina, public safety officer James Myers’ shed. Mahdi ambushed Meyers when the officer returned from a birthday celebration for his wife, sister and daughter, prosecutors said. 

SOUTH CAROLINA MAN FACES FEDERAL CHARGES FOR ALLEGEDLY THREATENING TO ASSASSINATE TRUMP 

This photo provided by the South Carolina Department of Corrections shows the state’s death chamber in Columbia, S.C., including the electric chair, right, and a firing squad chair, left.  (South Carolina Department of Corrections/AP)

Myers, 56, was shot eight or nine times, including twice in the head after falling to the ground. A pathologist testified that at least seven of the shots would have been fatal. 

Mahdi then set Myers’ body on fire and ran away. Myers’ wife discovered her husband’s dead body in the shed, which they had used for the backdrop of their wedding. 

Brad Sigmon was convicted of beating to death his estranged girlfriend’s parents in Greenville County in 2001. (South Carolina Department of Corrections via AP)

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On July 21, 2004, Mahdi was taken into custody in Florida. 

Fox News’ Landon Mion and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Greg Norman is a reporter at Fox News Digital.