The Pentagon has announced that Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan will be executed by firing squad.
“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,” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell wrote in an Oct. 5 post on X. “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,” Parnell wrote. “Judgement day for Hasan has finally come.”
Hasan’s execution would be the first U.S. military execution in more than 50 years and the first carried out by firing squad since World War II, according to CNN and NBC News. He is also one of four prisoners on the military’s death row at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, the Associated Press reported.
South Carolina executed convicted murderer Brad Sigmon by firing squad in March 2025, the Associated Press reported. It was the first time the method had been used in the United States in 15 years.
An attorney who previously represented Hasan did not immediately respond to Oxygen’s request for comment.
What Crime Did Nidal Hasan Commit?
Hasan, a former Army major and psychiatrist stationed at Fort Hood, carried out a “shooting rampage” at the Texas installation’s Soldier Readiness Processing Center, prosecutors wrote in a 2022 government appellate brief reviewed by Oxygen.
He killed 13 people—12 U.S. Army soldiers and one civilian employee—and tried to kill 32 others. Prosecutors said the attack ended only after authorities shot Hasan.
According to the appellate brief, Hasan wanted to avoid deployment to Afghanistan and described the conflict as “America’s war on Islam.” He had previously told a coworker words to the effect of, “If they deploy me…they will pay.”
Hasan later visited a firearms store and requested “the most technologically advanced handgun on the market.” He also asked the clerk to attach a laser sight to the weapon, the brief said.
On Nov. 5, 2009, several weeks after receiving deployment orders, Hasan put on his Army uniform and entered the Soldier Readiness Processing building carrying 400 rounds of ammunition, according to the brief. He opened fire while shouting “Allahu Akbar,” an Arabic phrase meaning “God is Greater.” When people attempted to rush him with a chair, the brief said, Hasan shot and killed them.
Hasan faced 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder. He offered to plead guilty, later withdrawing one proposal while a military judge rejected another, according to the brief. A judge subsequently entered not-guilty pleas on his behalf, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Hasan represented himself at his 2013 trial. In his opening statement, he said, according to the appellate brief, “The evidence will clearly show that I am the shooter. And the dead bodies will testify that war is an ugly thing.”
He was convicted on every charge and sentenced to death.
