Fort Hood Shooter Hasan to Face Firing Squad — First Since WWII — SkimNews
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- Nidal Hasan, a former US Army psychiatrist, will be executed by firing squad — the first military execution by that method since the end of World War Two, after President Donald Trump approved the recommendation from Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
- Hasan killed 13 unarmed soldiers and injured 32 others at Fort Hood, Texas on November 5, 2009 — the deadliest non-combat attack ever recorded on a US military base, carried out in a crowded medical building where deploying soldiers awaited check-ups.
- During his 2013 court-martial, Hasan said he was protecting Muslims and the Taliban in Afghanistan, and apologized for "any mistakes"; Hasan is now one of just four inmates on the US military's death row.
- Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell announced the decision on X on Monday, writing "Judgement day for Hasan has finally come," though the execution still requires a final judgment on its legality to move forward.
- Trump reversed predecessor Joe Biden's federal death penalty moratorium via executive order on his first day in office in January 2025, describing capital punishment as "an essential tool for deterring and punishing those who would commit the most heinous crimes."
- Firing squad executions are uncommon in the US — South Carolina carried out its first and the country's first in 15 years last year, and only Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Utah also permit the method.
Why it matters: The choice of firing squad — unused in military executions since World War Two — highlights how rare military capital punishment remains, with only four inmates currently on military death row. The decision flows directly from Trump's January 2025 executive order reinstating the federal death penalty after Biden's moratorium, and still requires appellate review before any execution can proceed.
Ask SkimNews
