In a dramatic return to one of America’s oldest execution methods, South Carolina carried out its third firing squad execution of 2025 on Friday evening, putting 44-year-old Stephen Corey Bryant to death for a chilling 2004 crime spree that left three men dead in Sumter County. Bryant was pronounced dead at 6:05 p.m. after three volunteer prison employees fired live rounds into the red bullseye target placed over his heart at Broad River Correctional Institution.
Bryant chose the firing squad over lethal injection or the electric chair. He made no final statement, only briefly glancing at the witnesses before a hood was placed over his head. Shots rang out 55 seconds later. The target flew off his chest, and after a few shallow breaths and one final spasm, he was declared dead.
The brutal crimes that sealed his fate shocked the community more than two decades ago. In October 2004, Bryant entered the home of 62-year-old Willard “TJ” Tietjen, shot him multiple times, burned his eyes and face with cigarettes, then taunted investigators by writing “Catch me if u can” and “Victem 4 in 2 weeks” on the wall using the victim’s own blood. Prosecutors said he also killed two other men in cold blood — offering them rides before shooting them in the back as they stepped out to relieve themselves along the roadside.
Bryant’s last-minute appeals, which claimed severe brain damage from his mother’s drug and alcohol use during pregnancy, were rejected by the courts. With no final words spoken, one of South Carolina’s most notorious killers met his end in silence, bringing a long chapter of justice to a close in the Palmetto State.
