"I want my closing statement to be one of love and a calling to my fellow Christians to help us end the death penalty," Brad Kieth Sigmon wrote ahead of his execution.

Brad Sigmon, who admitted to killing his ex-girlfriend's parents, said he chose to die by bullets because he considered the other choices offered by the state to be worse.

South Carolina executed a convicted murderer by firing squad on Friday, the first use of the method in the United States in 15 years.