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The U.S. Army has scheduled the execution of Nidal Hasan, the man responsible for the 2009 Fort Hood mass shooting, for Thursday, December 3. The execution by firing squad will take place at Fort Hood at 1 p.m. on that day. President Donald Trump approved the method following a recommendation by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
Hasan, a former Army major and psychiatrist, was convicted in 2013 of 13 counts of murder and 32 counts of attempted murder. During the attack, he opened fire in a medical building at Fort Hood, Texas, killing 12 soldiers, one civilian, and an unborn child. He claimed the attack was an effort to prevent soldiers from deploying to Afghanistan.
This execution will be the first carried out by the U.S. military since 1961, when Pvt. John Bennett was hanged. The decision to use a firing squad comes after a failed lethal injection execution in Tennessee, which led to a temporary halt of executions in that state. President Trump, who resumed the federal death penalty in 2020, has been a proponent of expanding capital punishment in the U.S.
While Hasan's execution is scheduled, it may face delays due to potential legal appeals. Hasan could challenge the execution in civilian federal court, which might postpone the process for years. Currently, he is one of four individuals on military death row at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.