Only three people have been executed by firing squad in the U.S. since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.

When a South Carolina man who killed his ex-girlfriend’s parents with a baseball bat steps into the death row chamber Friday night, it won’t be lethal injection or electrocution that ends his life. It will be three people holding rifles about 15 feet (4.

South Carolina inmate Brad Sigmon has chosen to die by firing squad March 7, a first for the state after he raised doubts about its lethal injection protocol.