As for why Mahdi’s body showed two wounds from the execution rather than three, a doctor noted in the comments section on the autopsy commissioned by the state that “it is believed that” two bullets went through one wound. Whereas in Utah, not all members of the state’s firing squad shoot live bullets, in South Carolina, the rifles of all three shooters were supposed to be loaded with ammunition.
The two wounds on Mahdi’s body were described in the autopsy as being almost exactly the same size. Pathologists who reviewed the report expressed doubt that two bullets went through precisely the same, small hole.
“I think the odds of that are pretty minuscule,” Wigren said
That is the protocol in Utah for firing squads, but not South Carolina
(Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20250509155025/https://www.npr.org/2025/05/08/nx-s1-5389846/firing-squad-south-carolina-death-penalty-execution)
Maybe their firing squad line up behind one another?