article_snippet: In this situation, death is technically caused by blood loss from the rupture of the heart or tearing of the lungs.
article_snippet: However, if the marksmen miss the heart — intentionally or by accident
article_snippet: This occurred in Utah in 1879 when a firing squad missed murderer Wallace Wilkerson's heart.
article_snippet: it reportedly took Wallace Wilkerson's 27 minutes to die.
article_snippet: Anti-death penalty campaigners claimed the shooters missed Wallace Wilkerson's heart on purpose to prolong Wallace Wilkerson's agony.
article_snippet: Will a well-aimed shot to the heart kill a man as surely and humanely as a lethal injection in the arm?