Trump Approves Firing Squad for Fort Hood Shooter Nidal Hasan, Execution Still Months Away

President Trump has approved the execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, the former Army psychiatrist who murdered 13 people and wounded 32 others at Fort Hood, Texas, on November 5, 2009. Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell announced the decision Monday, October 5, on X.

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

Hegseth retweeted the post with a single word: "Justice."

This is approval, not execution. According to ABC News, Army policy requires the execution to occur no sooner than 60 days and no later than 150 days after presidential sign-off. That means Hasan's execution, if it proceeds, will happen sometime between early December 2026 and early March 2027. The Secretary of the Army has not yet set a date or location.

What Happened in 2009

Hasan, then an Army major stationed at Fort Hood as a psychiatrist, walked into the base's Soldier Readiness Processing Center and opened fire with a laser-sighted pistol, shouting "Allahu Akbar" as he unloaded into unarmed soldiers preparing for deployment, according to court records cited by Fox News and CNBC. Twelve soldiers and one civilian died. More than 30 others were wounded.

Hasan was shot by responding civilian police officers and left partially paralyzed. He represented himself at his 2013 court-martial, called no witnesses, and told the jury in his opening statement, "the evidence will clearly show that I am the shooter," according to The Hill. He was convicted of premeditated murder and sentenced to death.

At trial, prosecutors argued Hasan acted to defend the "leadership of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the Taliban," CNBC reported. He had exchanged online messages with al-Qaida propagandist Anwar al-Awlaki before the attack, according to The Guardian. Yet NBC News reported that a Joint Terrorism Task Force concluded Hasan "was not involved in terrorist activities or terrorist planning" and that authorities determined he acted alone. That finding sits uneasily next to the Pentagon's repeated description of Hasan as a "terrorist" in Monday's announcement. Both characterizations appear in the record. Neither side's framing is resolved here, and the distinction matters for how the case gets remembered even though it doesn't change the verdict or sentence.

A Rare Method, A Long Wait

If carried out, Hasan's execution would be the first U.S. military execution since 1961, when Army Pvt. John Bennett was hanged at Fort Leavenworth for the rape and attempted murder of an 11-year-old girl in Austria, according to CNBC and ABC News. President George W. Bush approved a separate military execution in 2008, but a federal court blocked it.

Firing squad specifically is rarer still. NBC News noted it would be the first time the U.S. military has used that method since World War II. Outside the military, firing squads have been used on at least 144 civilian prisoners since 1608, according to the Associated Press, cited by The Hill. The most recent was South Carolina's Brad Sigmon in 2025, who chose the method over lethal injection or the electric chair. Before Sigmon, no state had used a firing squad in 15 years.

Newsweek noted the timing lands just days after Tennessee's attempted lethal injection execution of death-row inmate Christa Pike failed, prompting Governor Bill Lee to pause the state's remaining scheduled executions. The Justice Department earlier this year said federal officials should consider alternatives to lethal injection, including firing squads, electrocution and lethal gas, according to CBS News.

What Could Still Delay It

Newsweek reported that further litigation in civilian federal court could still push back the timeline, separate from the military appeals process Hasan has already exhausted. The Supreme Court denied Hasan's petition to review his conviction on March 31, 2025, clearing one major legal hurdle, according to CNBC. Hasan had argued the trial judge violated his right to a public trial by clearing the courtroom during disputes with his standby attorneys, who worried at the time that Hasan was deliberately seeking a death sentence, CBS News reported.

Hasan is currently one of four inmates on the military's death row, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. He has been held at Fort Leavenworth since his conviction.

The unresolved question is whether any new appeal emerges once the Army sets an actual date and location. None has been filed as of this reporting, and CBS News said it had reached out to Hasan's attorney for comment without immediate response.