In a case that has gripped South Carolina with its disturbing brutality and legal controversy, 44-year-old death row inmate Stephen Bryant has elected to die by firing squad, a method recently reinstated by the state after more than a decade-long pause in executions. Bryant, convicted of a string of murders that terrorized Sumter County in 2004, is scheduled for execution on November 14. The decision marks the third firing squad execution in South Carolina this year, reigniting ethical and procedural debates surrounding the state’s newest and most controversial form of capital punishment.
Stephen Bryant’s crimes were among the most gruesome in recent state history. Investigators described a chilling crime scene in which Bryant wrote messages in the victim’s blood, taunting authorities with phrases like “catch me if u can.” His killing spree, which left three men dead over a matter of weeks, revealed not only a deeply disturbed mind but also exposed gaps in mental health intervention for offenders with prior trauma. As the date of his execution approaches, legal experts anticipate renewed court battles over the state’s use of firing squads, following recent allegations that prior executions by this method caused prolonged suffering.
A Brutal Killing Spree That Shook Sumter County
Stephen Bryant’s violent rampage in October 2004 left a lasting scar on rural Sumter County. According to prosecutors, Bryant first murdered a man he had offered a ride to after pulling over on a remote road. When the man stepped away to relieve himself, Bryant shot him in the back, leaving his body by the roadside. In the days that followed, Bryant turned his attention to Willard “TJ” Tietjen, a local resident who lived alone in a secluded area.
Investigators said Bryant approached Tietjen’s home under the pretense of car trouble before launching a sadistic attack. After shooting Tietjen several times, Bryant burned the victim’s eyes with cigarettes, lit candles around the body, and used a potholder made by Tietjen’s daughter to write chilling messages in blood on the wall. The words “victem 4 in 2 weeks. catch me if u can” became the symbol of Bryant’s deranged challenge to law enforcement.
The horror intensified when Tietjen’s daughter repeatedly called her father’s phone, growing increasingly anxious when he failed to answer. On her sixth attempt, she testified, a stranger picked up and coldly told her that her father had been killed. Bryant was later linked to another murder committed after Tietjen’s death, in which he again shot a man who had stopped to urinate while Bryant was giving him a ride.
The three killings appeared random but shared a pattern of isolation and cruelty that deeply unsettled the community. Authorities described Bryant as a “predator who fed on opportunity and fear,” a man whose erratic behavior in the months before the murders went largely unchecked despite multiple pleas for psychological help.
South Carolina death row inmate Stephen Bryant chooses firing squad execution after admitting to gruesome murder https://t.co/JfmdD8m3eD pic.twitter.com/szN7loNWYk
— New York Post (@nypost) November 1, 2025
Bryant’s defense lawyers later revealed that he had been seeking help for recurring trauma tied to sexual abuse he suffered as a child at the hands of four male relatives. In the months leading up to the murders, he told both a probation officer and his aunt that he was losing control of his thoughts. Instead of receiving the treatment he requested, Bryant spiraled into drug abuse, relying on methamphetamine and marijuana sprayed with insecticide to dull his mental anguish.
During his trial, prosecutors focused on the savagery of the crimes and the deliberate nature of his taunting behavior. The jury took little time to convict Bryant of three counts of murder. He was sentenced to death and has spent nearly two decades on death row, exhausting his appeals before the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene earlier this month.
Firing Squad: South Carolina’s Controversial Return to an Old Method
Bryant’s choice of execution by firing squad places him among a rare and controversial subset of condemned inmates. South Carolina, which had halted executions for over 13 years due to a shortage of lethal injection drugs, revived the firing squad as an alternative in 2021. The state now offers death row inmates three options: lethal injection, the electric chair, or firing squad.
The firing squad method was introduced amid public and political pressure to resume executions after pharmaceutical companies restricted access to drugs used in lethal injections. In March 2025, Brad Sigmon became the first person executed by firing squad in South Carolina—the first such execution in the United States since 2010. A month later, Mikal Mahdi followed, though his death sparked major controversy over claims that the execution was botched.
Attorneys representing Mahdi’s estate alleged that the shooters missed his heart, causing him to suffer for over a minute before dying. Autopsy photos released by his lawyers appeared to show only two bullet entry wounds, despite the state’s claim that three marksmen fired from 15 feet away. Witnesses at the execution reported hearing moans and groans from Mahdi for more than a minute after the shots were fired.
In contrast, the earlier execution of Brad Sigmon reportedly proceeded without complications, with three distinct bullet wounds found in the heart area. The state Department of Corrections maintained that Mahdi’s execution “went as planned” and that overlapping bullet wounds were possible due to the shooters’ accuracy. Officials also emphasized that the goal of the procedure is to strike the heart, not destroy it entirely.
Nonetheless, Mahdi’s case reignited questions about whether the firing squad constitutes cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment. Human rights organizations and medical experts have raised alarms about the potential for suffering if the shots do not instantly stop cardiac function. Dr. Jonathan Arden, a forensic pathologist hired by inmates’ attorneys, noted that Mahdi’s autopsy revealed a non-jagged entry wound inconsistent with two bullets entering the same location.
Now, as Bryant prepares for his execution, his choice of the same method is expected to provoke fresh legal challenges. Advocacy groups are already calling for a halt to executions by firing squad pending an independent review of the Mahdi case. “If the last man suffered in agony for over a minute, the state cannot in good conscience proceed with another,” one anti-death penalty attorney told reporters.
Still, South Carolina officials insist that the firing squad is a humane and efficient alternative. The setup, housed in the state’s death chamber, includes a specially designed chair positioned in front of a sandbag wall. Three volunteer marksmen, whose identities are kept secret, aim rifles at a target over the inmate’s heart. One rifle is loaded with a blank round so that no shooter can be certain who fired the fatal shot.
Bryant’s execution, scheduled for November 14, will be the eighth in South Carolina since the state resumed capital punishment in 2024. Of those eight, six have chosen lethal injection, one was electrocuted, and Bryant will be the third to die by firing squad. It will also mark the 50th execution in South Carolina since the death penalty was reinstated in 1985.
A Legacy of Violence, Trauma, and Controversy
The story of Stephen Bryant is one of violent extremes, psychological torment, and systemic failure. His crimes stand among the most heinous in South Carolina’s recent memory, yet his background exposes a troubling narrative of neglect and untreated trauma. Defense attorneys repeatedly emphasized Bryant’s pleas for mental health assistance in the months preceding the murders—pleas that went unanswered. Instead, he spiraled into self-destructive behavior, using drugs and erratic violence as coping mechanisms.
Psychologists who reviewed Bryant’s history described him as a man “fractured by early abuse and consumed by rage.” His actions, however, left no room for sympathy from jurors or victims’ families. “He didn’t just kill,” one prosecutor said during sentencing. “He desecrated. He taunted. He turned death into spectacle.”
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The gruesome nature of Bryant’s crimes also reignited public debate about the moral purpose of the death penalty. While some view his execution as overdue justice, others argue that the continued use of capital punishment perpetuates cycles of violence. South Carolina remains one of the most active death penalty states in the country, with 27 inmates currently on death row. The state has never granted clemency to a condemned inmate in the modern era of executions.
Bryant’s upcoming execution also contributes to a nationwide rise in the number of capital punishments carried out in 2025. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, 41 people have already been executed in the United States this year, and at least 18 more are scheduled before the end of 2025. The resumption of executions after years of decline signals a shifting attitude in several states that have reactivated dormant death chambers, often amid shortages of lethal injection drugs.
In South Carolina, public opinion on capital punishment remains divided. Proponents argue that the state must uphold sentences imposed by juries and courts, while opponents point to potential errors, racial disparities, and the lack of clear evidence that executions deter violent crime. The controversy surrounding the firing squad adds another dimension to this debate, forcing the public to confront the visceral reality of state-sanctioned killing.
As Bryant’s execution date nears, the families of his victims await closure after more than two decades. For them, the focus remains not on the method of execution but on the enduring loss of loved ones taken in acts of senseless cruelty. “No punishment will bring my father back,” Tietjen’s daughter said in court years ago. “But I hope it ends the nightmare he started.”
Bryant’s death will close one of South Carolina’s most disturbing criminal chapters, but the broader questions about justice, morality, and the humanity of execution methods will continue to haunt the state’s legal system. Whether his final act—choosing the firing squad—represents acceptance, defiance, or despair is known only to him. What remains certain is that his case will leave behind a legacy that forces the public and the courts alike to reconsider how a society defines justice when faced with horror beyond comprehension.