For the first time in 15 years, a prisoner was executed by firing squad in the United States.

The execution occurred Friday evening in South Carolina, where convicted murderer Brad Sigmon was pronounced dead at 6:08 p.m., according to a spokesperson for state’s department of corrections.

Sigmon chose to be killed by a firing squad, saying he feared the alternatives of the electric chair or lethal injection would risk a slower and more torturous death.