Trump approves firing-squad execution of 2009 Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan

The United States military has advanced significantly towards carrying out the execution of Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan, who was convicted of murdering 13 individuals and wounding over 30 others during the 2009 mass shooting incident at Fort Hood, Texas.

The Pentagon announced on Monday that President Donald Trump has authorised his execution via firing squad, a method unutilised by the US military since 1961.

Should this proceeding occur, Hasan's execution will represent the first military execution carried out by the United States armed forces in decades. The 2009 atrocity additionally resulted in over two dozen individuals sustaining injuries.


In a statement posted on X, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell declared, "US War Secretary Pete Hegseth has recommended, and President Donald J. Trump has approved, death by US Army firing squad for convicted terrorist Nidal Malik Hasan."

Parnell further wrote, "The Secretary of the Army will set the time and place of the execution. Judgement day for Hasan has finally come."

A military jury delivered a death sentence against Hasan in 2013 following his conviction relating to the Fort Hood mass shooting, an assault prosecutors argued stemmed from Al-Qaeda inspiration.

Throughout his court-martial proceedings, Hasan chose self-representation, refrained from summoning witnesses, declined to offer testimony, and made no effort to dispute the formal charges. His court-appointed defence counsel had previously voiced apprehensions that he was actively pursuing a death sentence.

Hasan, a US-born Muslim of Palestinian heritage, commenced firing on November 5, 2009, inside a medical building situated within the extensive Fort Hood military base. The installation served as a principal staging area supporting US military personnel preparing for combat deployments throughout Iraq and Afghanistan.

Amongst the fatalities, twelve victims were soldiers, whilst the thirteenth was a civilian. Furthermore, thirty individuals suffered wounds during the incident. Responding civilian police officers shot and partially paralysed Hasan during the engagement.

Testimony presented during the trial revealed that Hasan opposed US military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. Evidence also showed he maintained online communications with Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born radical cleric connected to Al-Qaeda who subsequently perished in a US drone strike conducted in Yemen.

Whilst mass shootings remain relatively frequent across the United States, incidents occurring within US military installations happen less regularly.

During 2025, a soldier initiated gunfire at a US military base located in Georgia, injuring five fellow service members before being subdued and arrested.

In 2019, a US Navy sailor fatally shot two individuals and wounded another at a military facility in Hawaii. Throughout that same year, a Saudi military student killed three people at a US facility situated in Florida.

During 2015, a US citizen of Kuwaiti birth targeted two military facilities in Tennessee, ending the lives of four Marines and a sailor. Subsequent investigations by the FBI determined that the assault derived inspiration from a "foreign terrorist group".

Two years prior, a gunman killed 12 individuals and wounded eight others at the Washington Navy Yard in the US capital, before police officers shot and killed the assailant.