U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered the use of a firing squad to execute former U.S. Army psychiatrist, Major Nidal Hasan, who killed 13 people in a 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, Texas.
Hasan opened fire at a medical facility at the military base 17 years ago on 5 November, killing 12 active-duty soldiers and one retired serviceman and wounding 32 others. He was shot by police during his arrest and was left partially paralysed and confined to a wheelchair.
A military jury sentenced Hasan to death in August 2013 after finding him guilty of 45 counts of premeditated murder and attempted premeditated murder.
During the trial, Hasan acknowledged that he was the shooter and said he had acted to prevent U.S. soldiers from deploying to Afghanistan and killing fellow Muslims. The attack took place weeks before Hasan was due to deploy to Afghanistan. Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said Hasan shouted “Allahu Akbar” during the shooting.
The execution, recommended by Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, is scheduled to take place at Fort Hood on 3 December, acting U.S. Army Secretary Adam Telle said on Tuesday.
If carried out, Hasan’s execution would be the first U.S. military execution since 1961, when Army Private John Bennett was hanged at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. It would also be the first known U.S. military execution by firing squad since 1945.
Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, military death sentences require presidential approval before they can be carried out. Hasan remains eligible to challenge the execution through the federal courts, potentially delaying the process.
The decision comes as the use of firing squads has re-emerged in the U.S. Several states allow the method, while South Carolina carried out a firing squad execution in 2025, the first such execution in the country in 15 years. The Trump administration has also expanded the execution methods available for federal crimes, including firing squads, electrocution and gas asphyxiation, amid difficulties obtaining lethal-injection drugs.
The debate over execution methods has also intensified following a failed lethal injection in Tennessee last week. Death-row inmate Christa Pike survived the attempted execution and was hospitalised. Her lawyers said on Tuesday that she had regained consciousness, although her prognosis remained unclear.
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