Trump Approves Firing Squad Execution for Fort Hood Shooter

US President Donald Trump has approved a firing squad execution for Nidal Malik Hasan, the former army officer convicted of carrying out the 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood, a military base in Texas. The move, if carried out, would mark the US military's first execution since 1961.

According to Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had earlier recommended the execution order for Hasan and Trump approved it. The timing and date of the execution will be set by Army Secretary Adam Telle, who is serving in an acting capacity. "Judgment day for Hasan has finally come," Parnell wrote on X.

Death sentences and executions in the US military are rare and require presidential approval. Under the Army's military justice code, premeditated murder can carry a death sentence, but the process is typically stringent and protracted. The Trump administration, however, has shown greater willingness to pursue capital punishment for serious crimes, including against civilians.

The Fort Hood shooting

On November 5, 2009, Hasan, a US-born Army psychiatrist, entered Fort Hood's processing center, shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is great) and opened fire on fellow personnel waiting for medical screening. Thirteen people were killed, including a pregnant soldier, and 32 others were wounded in the 10-minute rampage. Analysts have called it the worst mass shooting at a US military base targeting members of the armed forces. Hasan was shot multiple times after two officers subdued him and is now paralyzed from the waist down.

The trial

Hasan was immediately court-martialed, and military prosecutors sought the death penalty from the outset. The process, however, dragged on for years even after his conviction, largely because the US military has been reluctant to carry out executions.

At trial, Hasan represented himself and admitted to the attack, saying he sought to prevent the deployment of troops to Afghanistan and the killing of fellow Muslims. He had been due to deploy weeks later. Investigations found that Hasan had exchanged emails with Anwar al-Awlaki, a Yemeni-American cleric accused of ties to al-Qaeda, before the shooting. He had also repeatedly voiced opposition to US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to colleagues and over the treatment of Muslims in the military. Hasan made little effort to defend himself, and his appointed lawyers argued that his testimony aided the prosecution.

Hasan was charged and convicted of 13 counts of premeditated murder in 2013, and the jury recommended the death penalty. One point of controversy was that Hasan was charged with "workplace violence" because the military justice code does not cover "terrorism."

The sentencing was further delayed by mandatory appeals under military rules, not at Hasan's request. In 2020, the US Army Court of Criminal Appeals upheld Hasan's death sentence, and in 2023 the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces did the same. In March 2025, the US Supreme Court denied a petition for mandatory judicial review.

In September 2025, Hegseth announced he was seeking presidential approval for Hasan's execution. At the time, no reports indicated Hegseth specifically requested a firing squad. The president holds ultimate authority to designate the method of execution. Other methods could include lethal injection or hanging, both of which the US military has used in the past.

Next steps

Although Trump's approval will set off a series of preparations for the execution, Hasan could still delay the process for years by appealing to the federal civilian court system. That, however, may be unlikely because Hasan made no effort to defend himself at trial.

Hasan is currently held at the US Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where three other men have been on military death row for years. Among them is Hasan Akbar, convicted of two counts of murder after attacking fellow soldiers at a base in Kuwait in 2003 during the invasion of Iraq. Another is serial killer and rapist Ronald Gray, convicted of four murders and eight rapes in 2008. His execution was approved the same year under President George W. Bush, but a judge halted the process. Timothy Hennis, a former sergeant, was convicted of murdering three people in 2010 and is also awaiting execution.

The last military execution took place in 1961, when former soldier John Bennett was hanged for raping an 11-year-old girl.