Today's Video Headlines: 04/11/25
A convicted cop killer who became the second death row inmate in South Carolina to die by firing squad chomped on a ribeye steak, mushroom risotto, broccoli, collard greens and cheesecake before he was executed on Friday night.
Mikal Mahdi, 42, had three slugs fired into his heart by trained correctional volunteers at Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia and was pronounced dead at 6:05 p.m. for the ambush killing of Orangeburg Public Safety Captain James Myers in 2004. Mahdi, who washed down his hearty last meal with a sweet tea, did not make a final statement before his execution, according to the South Carolina Department of Corrections.Mahdi was then hooded and strapped to a metal chair that sat on top of a catch basin inside the prison’s death chamber with a white target and red bullseye placed over his chest. Three members from the state’s corrections department stood behind a wall 15 feet away and simultaneously opened fire through openings in the partition at 6:01 p.m. Each shooter fired one round, with Mahdi flexing his arms and crying out as the bullets struck him. ‘Morbidly obese’ killer’s final meal, last words revealed before he’s executed for strangling beloved Miami Herald worker5Mahdi continued to groan and take deep breaths for about two minutes before taking one final gasp – with a doctor affirming his death four minutes after the shots rang out. One member of the victim’s family, Mahdi’s attorney, a representative from the First Circuit Solicitor’s Office and the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office and three reporters were among those who witnessed Mahdi’s final moments. “Faced with barbaric and inhumane choices, Mikal Mahdi had chosen the lesser of the three evils,” his attorney, David Weiss said in a statement after the execution, which he described as a “horrifying act” that doesn’t belong in a “civilized society.” “Mikal chose the firing squad instead of being burned and mutilated in the electric chair, or suffering the lingering death on the lethal injection gurney.” Mahdi was sentenced to death after he confessed to shooting Myers at least eight times and then burning his body in a shed that had been the backdrop of the officer’s wedding just 15 months earlier. The heinous act unfolded three days after he killed Christopher Boggs, a convenience store clerk in North Carolina. Mahdi shot the clerk twice in the head.by both the US and South Carolina Supreme Courts. His defense team argued that his original attorneys made little effort to save his life and failed to call on those who knew him to testify after the prosecution called 28 witnesses.Pilot of doomed Hudson River helicopter ID'd as Navy SEAL vet who had posted heart-wrenching video month before death Family of Hudson River helicopter crash victims pay tribute to 'happy and united' loved ones in heart-wrenching statement Florida teacher is first known to be fired for using student's preferred name without parents' consentTrump reveals 90-day tariff pause for most countries, raises China rate to 125% — as he explains ‘yippy’ reason for stoppage, boasts about stock rebound‘RHOBH’ alum Taylor Armstrong details late husband’s terrifying abuse: ‘I thought he was going to drown me’‘The Pitt’ Ending Explained: Does Dr. Robby Survive His Nightmare Shift?Pilot of doomed Hudson River helicopter ID'd as Navy SEAL vet who had posted heart-wrenching video month before death
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