Fort Hood Shooter Nidal Hasan to Face Firing Squad in First US Military Execution Since World War II
Former US Army Major Nidal Hasan, convicted of killing 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009, is set to face a firing squad in a historic US military execution.
The United States is preparing for a rare military execution after President Donald Trump approved the use of a U.S. Army firing squad to execute former Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan, who was convicted of killing 13 people and wounding 32 others during the 2009 Fort Hood shooting in Texas.
The decision, announced by the Pentagon on Monday, October 5, 2026, represents a significant moment in the history of the American military justice system. If carried out, Hasan's execution would be the first execution by the U.S. military since 1961 and the first military firing-squad execution since the end of World War II. (Reuters)
Trump approves rare execution method
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell announced that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had recommended execution by firing squad and that President Trump had approved the recommendation.
Parnell said the Secretary of the Army would determine the time and location of the execution. The date has not yet been announced, meaning the presidential approval does not necessarily mean Hasan will be executed immediately. (ABC News)
The case is particularly notable because executions under the U.S. military justice system are extremely rare. The last person executed by the U.S. military was Army Private John A. Bennett, who was hanged at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1961 after being convicted of rape and attempted murder. (The Washington Post)
Why the firing squad is historic
The firing squad method takes the Hasan case even further back in American military history.
The last known U.S. military firing-squad execution occurred on January 31, 1945, when Army Private Eddie Slovik was executed in France during World War II after being convicted of desertion.
Slovik's execution remains the most recent known instance of the U.S. Army using a firing squad to carry out a death sentence. If Hasan's execution proceeds as authorized, it would therefore represent the first such military execution in more than 80 years. (Stars and Stripes)
The method has nevertheless remained part of the broader American capital punishment landscape. Some U.S. states have retained firing squads as an alternative execution method, and the method has been used in civilian executions in recent years. (CBS News)
The 2009 Fort Hood shooting
Hasan's case dates back to November 5, 2009, when he opened fire at a Soldier Readiness Processing Center at Fort Hood, now known as Fort Cavazos, in Texas.
The Army psychiatrist was preparing to deploy to Afghanistan when he entered the facility and began shooting fellow service members.
The attack lasted roughly 10 minutes and left 13 people dead and 32 others wounded. Twelve of those killed were active-duty soldiers, while the 13th victim was a retired serviceman working at the facility. A pregnant soldier was among those killed.
Hasan was eventually shot by responding law enforcement officers and survived, although he was left paralysed from the waist down.
Military trial and death sentence
Hasan's court-martial took place in 2013. He represented himself during the proceedings and did not seriously contest responsibility for the shooting.
A military jury convicted him of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder. The jury subsequently recommended the death penalty.
During the trial, Hasan said he had acted to protect Taliban fighters and sought to justify his actions in the context of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan. Prosecutors, however, presented the shooting as a deliberate attack against fellow members of the military.
After his conviction, Hasan was transferred to the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, where he has remained on military death row.
Years of appeals followed
Although Hasan was sentenced to death in 2013, the execution did not occur immediately.
The U.S. military's capital punishment system requires extensive review of death sentences, and Hasan's case went through multiple levels of military appeals.
The Army Court of Criminal Appeals upheld his sentence in 2020, while the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces upheld it in 2023. The U.S. Supreme Court subsequently declined to review his case in 2025.
The lengthy appeals process illustrates why Trump's approval does not necessarily mean an immediate execution.
Reports indicate that Hasan could still pursue legal challenges in the civilian federal court system, potentially delaying the execution further. (Straight Arrow)
A return of military capital punishment
The planned execution places the U.S. military's death penalty system back into the spotlight after decades of inactivity.
While military law permits capital punishment for certain serious offenses, executions have been extraordinarily uncommon. The Army has not carried out a death sentence since Bennett's execution in 1961.
Hasan's case is therefore significant not only because of the firing squad but because it could mark the return of military executions after more than six decades.
The case also comes as the United States continues to debate execution methods. The Trump administration has expanded attention to alternatives to lethal injection, including firing squads, electrocution and lethal gas, amid concerns surrounding the availability of lethal-injection drugs.
Execution date remains unknown
For now, Hasan remains on military death row while the Army prepares for the next stage of the process.
The Secretary of the Army is expected to establish the time and place of the execution, but legal challenges could still affect the timetable.
If ultimately carried out, Hasan's execution will occupy a distinctive place in U.S. military history: it would be the first military execution since 1961 and the first U.S. Army firing-squad execution since 1945.
More than 17 years after the Fort Hood attack, the case has therefore entered its final legal chapter, with the United States preparing to revive an execution method that had been absent from its military justice system since the final years of World War II.