US military plans to execute Fort Hood shooter, first since World War II

The Pentagon announced that a former Army major would be executed by firing squad; this would be the first such military execution in more than 60 years.

Nidal Malik Hasan, a U.S. Army major and doctor, shot and killed 13 unarmed U.S. soldiers at Fort Hood in 2009, injuring 32 others.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell announced on social media on Monday (October 5) that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had made the recommendation and President Donald Trump had approved it.

It would be the first military execution by firing squad since the end of World War II.

A jury of 13 officers found Hassan guilty of 13 counts of murder and 32 counts of attempted murder, and unanimously recommended the death penalty.

Parnell said the Army secretary will decide when and where the execution will take place.

He wrote on the X platform: "Hassan's judgment day has finally arrived."

Hassan, a U.S. Army psychiatrist from Virginia who killed 13 soldiers at a base in Texas in 2009, later admitted in court that he was the shooter and apologized for "any mistakes."

He told a military court in 2013 that he believed he was protecting Muslims and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The killing that occurred on November 5, 2009 was the deadliest non-combat attack on a U.S. military base in history.

The attack occurred in a crowded medical building as soldiers about to be deployed were waiting for medical exams and vaccinations.

Hassan is currently one of four inmates on U.S. death row.

Under military law, military executions require the approval of the President of the United States.

In addition, the appeal review process must be completed and a final determination on its legality must be made before it can be enforced.

The US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces ruled in 1983 that the military death penalty was unconstitutional, but President Ronald Reagan reinstated it by executive order the following year.

Military executions differ from those carried out at the state government level.

The vast majority of executions in the United States are carried out by state governments. A total of 27 states, the military, and the federal government currently retain the death penalty as a legally available penalty option.

Executions by firing squad are extremely rare. Last year, South Carolina carried out a firing squad execution, the first time the state had used this method and the first time it had been used in the United States in 15 years.

Four other states allow firing squads, including Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Utah.

Trump has always supported the federal death penalty system and reinstated the federal death penalty through an executive order on his first day in office in January 2025.

Under his predecessor, President Joe Biden, the U.S. Department of Justice implemented a moratorium on executions at the federal level.