South Carolina executes second man by firing squad in 5 weeks

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A firing squad on Friday executed a South Carolina man who killed an off-duty police officer, the second time the rare execution method has been used by the state in the past five weeks.Mikal Mahdi gave no final statement and did not look to his right toward the nine witnesses in the room behind bulletproof glass and bars once the curtain opened.He cried out as the shots hit him, and his arms flexed. A white target with the red bull’s-eye over Mahdi’s heart was pushed into the wound in his chest.He groaned two more times about 45 seconds after that. His breaths continued for about 80 seconds before he appeared to take one final gasp.A doctor checked him for a little over a minute, and he was declared dead at 6:05 p.m., less than four minutes after the shots were fired.Mahdi, 42, chose to die by three bullets to the heart instead oflethal injectionor the electric chair. On March 7,Brad Sigmonwas executed in the first U.S. firing squad death in 15 years and only the...