The U.S. will carry out the execution of a prisoner by firing squad for the first time in 15 years

Convicted South Carolina inmate Brad Sigmon has decided to be shot - a method of execution not used in the U.S. for 15 years. The Associated Press (AP) reported Feb. 21.

"Sigmon's death is scheduled for March 7. On February 21, he became the first inmate in South Carolina to choose the state's firing squad over lethal injection or the electric chair," the agency informed.

It is specified that only three inmates in the US have been shot since 1976, the last one was executed in 2010.

According to the agency, 67-year-old Sigmon will be tied to a chair, a hood will be placed over his head and a target will be placed over his heart in the death chamber. Three volunteers will shoot him at a distance of about 4.6 meters.

Sigmon was convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend's parents with a baseball bat in 2001 in Greenville County. He then kidnapped his ex-girlfriend, threatening her with a gun, but she escaped from his car. Prosecutors say he shot her as she fled but missed.

Sigmon will be the oldest of South Carolina's 46 inmates to be executed since the death penalty was reinstated in the US in 1976.

Injections, pardons and the 30-year wait. What you need to know about the death penalty in the USA

Earlier on January 21, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to bring back the death penalty at the federal level. It is specified that the Attorney General of the country should seek the death penalty for particularly serious crimes, including the murder of a law enforcement officer.