Pentagon Orders Nidal Hasan Execution for 2009 Fort Hood Killings, First Military Death Sentence Carried Out in 60 Years
Updated
Updated · abcnews.com · Oct 6
Pentagon Orders Nidal Hasan Execution for 2009 Fort Hood Killings, First Military Death Sentence Carried Out in 60 Years
3 articles · Updated · abcnews.com · Oct 6
Summary
Nidal Hasan will be executed by firing squad after the Pentagon said President Donald Trump approved Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s recommendation in the Fort Hood mass shooting case.
The 2009 attack at Fort Hood, Texas, killed 13 people and wounded 32 when Hasan, then an Army psychiatrist, opened fire at a Soldier Readiness Processing Center.
Army rules require the execution to take place within 150 days of presidential approval and no sooner than 60 days, though the Pentagon has not announced a time or location.
Hasan was sentenced to death in 2013 on 13 premeditated murder counts and 32 attempted murder counts and is one of four inmates on the Army’s death row at Fort Leavenworth.
The execution would be the first U.S. military execution since 1961 and follows internal Army planning this year to use the federal execution facility in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Why is the U.S. military reviving the firing squad for the first time since 1945 to execute the Fort Hood shooter?
With a strict 150-day window looming, will pending legal reviews derail the military's first firing squad execution since World War II?
The First U.S. Military Execution in 65 Years: The Hasan Case, Firing Squad Protocol, and the Future of Capital Punishment
Overview
The report traces the path from Nidal Hasan’s radicalization and deadly 2009 Fort Hood shooting, through his conviction and years of appeals, to President Trump’s 2026 approval of his execution by firing squad. This decision comes amid a national crisis over lethal injection drugs, leading both states and the military to revive alternative methods like the firing squad. Recent botched executions have raised doubts about the reliability of such methods. As Hasan’s legal team prepares new federal challenges, victims’ families remain divided, with some fearing the execution could politicize Hasan’s legacy and cause further pain.