A firing squad executed a convicted killer today, US prison officials said.

A CONDEMNED US inmate’s decision to die today in a barrage of bullets fired by five unnamed marksmen was vilified by many as an archaic form of Wild West-style justice.

The US state of Utah is set to execute a convicted killer by firing squad after a judge agreed to the inmate’s request, renewing a debate over what critics see as an antiquated, Old West-style of justice.