US Military to Execute Fort Hood Shooter Nidal Hasan by Firing Squad

The United States military is set to execute former Army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan by firing squad, marking the first military execution in more than six decades.

Hasan was convicted of fatally shooting 13 unarmed US soldiers and wounding 32 others during the 2009 Fort Hood attack in Texas. The mass shooting remains the deadliest non-combat attack on a US military base.

Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said on Monday that Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth had recommended the execution and that President Donald Trump approved it. The US Army secretary announced on Tuesday that the execution is scheduled for December 3 at Fort Hood.

The execution will be the first carried out by firing squad by the US military since the end of World War II. Parnell wrote on X that “judgement day for Hasan has finally come.”

Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist from Virginia, admitted during his 2013 court-martial that he was responsible for the Fort Hood shooting. He said he believed he was protecting Muslims and the Taliban in Afghanistan and apologised for what he described as “any mistakes”.

The attack took place on November 5, 2009, inside a crowded medical building where soldiers preparing for deployment were undergoing medical checks and receiving vaccinations. Hasan is currently one of four inmates on the US military’s death row.

Under US military law, a military execution requires approval from the president, along with appellate review and a final determination that the death sentence can legally proceed. The military death penalty was ruled unconstitutional by the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces in 1983 but was reinstated the following year through an executive order signed by President Ronald Reagan.

Firing squad executions remain rare in the United States. South Carolina carried out an execution by firing squad last year, becoming the first state to use the method in 15 years. Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Utah also allow firing squads under certain circumstances.

Trump has been a strong supporter of capital punishment and reinstated the federal death penalty through an executive order on the first day of his administration in January 2025. His predecessor, Joe Biden, had imposed a moratorium on federal executions.