COLUMBIA, S.C. (WCSC/AP) - An inmate was executed by a firing squad for the murders he committed in 2004.

Three prison employees, all with live ammunition, have volunteered to carry out the execution of Stephen Bryant, 44, who killed three people over the course of five days in the Midlands 21 years ago.

Bryant has no appeals pending before the 6 p.m. scheduled execution at the death row facility at Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia.

Gov. Henry McMaster declined the death penalty to Bryant just past 6 p.m. Friday. No South Carolina governor has offered clemency since the death penalty resumed in the U.S. in 1976.

The murders that put Bryant on death row

Bryant admitted to killing Willard “TJ” Tietjen in October 2004 after stopping by his secluded home in rural Sumter

See Full Page