Former Army major who killed 13 at Fort Hood will be executed by firing squad

A former U.S. Army major and psychiatrist convicted in the 2009 shooting deaths of 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, will be executed by a firing squad, the Pentagon announced on Monday,

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The Defense Department’s chief spokesperson, Sean Parnell, said the execution of 56-year-old Nidal Hasan was recommended by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and approved by President Donald Trump, NBC News reported.

“The Secretary of the Army will set the time and place of the execution,” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell tweeted. “Judgement day for Hasan has finally come.”

The U.S. military has not executed a service member since 1961, when Pvt. John Bennett was hanged after his conviction for the rape and attempted murder of an 11-year-old girl in Austria, ABC News reported. The last service member executed by a firing squad was Pvt. Eddie Slovik in 1945, according to NBC News.

Slovik was executed for desertion during World War II.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has recommended — and President Donald J. Trump has approved — death by U.S. Army firing squad for convicted terrorist Nidal Malik Hasan, the jihadist who opened fire on unarmed American soldiers at Fort Hood in 2009. He killed 13 people and wounded 32 others while shouting “Allahu Akbar” during the attack. The Secretary of the Army will set the time and place of the execution. Judgement day for Hasan has finally come.
— Sean Parnell (@SeanParnellASW) October 5, 2026

Hasan was an Army psychiatrist when he opened fire at the Soldier Readiness Processing Center at Fort Hood on Nov. 5, 2009, ABC News reported. He fatally shot 12 soldiers and one civilian before he was wounded and arrested, according to the news outlet.

According to witnesses, Hasan should “Allahu akbar” -- Arabic for “God is great!” — and opened fire with a laser-sighted handgun, The Associated Press reported. In addition to the 13 people killed, 32 were wounded.

Hasan was convicted in July 2013 of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder, CNN reported. A jury of 13 officers unanimously recommended a death sentence.

A U.S.-born citizen of Palestinian descent, Hasan acted as his own lawyer during the trial, according to NBC News.

He told the military court that his actions were an effort to stop the victims from deploying to Afghanistan to kill his fellow Muslims, the AP reported. He also told jurors that evidence would prove he was the killer, calling himself a soldier who had “switched sides.”

Hasan was paralyzed from the waist down from the wound and uses a wheelchair, according to CNN.

He was sent to a military detention center at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, ABC News reported. He is one of four death row inmates in the Army justice system.

Since 1916, the U.S. military has executed 135 armed service members, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. There are 15 crimes that are punishable by death, CNN reported. Any execution must be approved by the president, who can also commute a death sentence.