Trump Approves Firing Squad Execution for Fort Hood Gunman Nidal Hasan
For 65 years, the United States military has not carried out a single execution.
That historic pause could now come to an end.
President Donald Trump has approved the execution by U.S. Army firing squad of former Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the military psychiatrist convicted of killing 13 people and wounding 32 others during the 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas.
The decision represents a major development in one of the most notorious cases in modern U.S. military history. However, it does not necessarily mean the execution will happen soon.
Hasan may still challenge the process in federal court, potentially delaying it for years.
Trump gives his approval
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell announced that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had recommended execution by firing squad and that Trump had personally approved the request.
“The Secretary of the Army will set the time and place of the execution,” Parnell wrote.
He ended the announcement with an unmistakable message:
“Judgment Day for Hasan has finally come.”
Hegseth later shared the statement and added a single word: “Justice.”
Under military law, a death sentence imposed by a court-martial cannot be carried out without presidential approval. Trump’s decision therefore removes one of the most significant barriers standing between Hasan and execution.
The Army must now determine when and where the sentence would be carried out while navigating the remaining legal and procedural requirements.
The attack that left 13 people dead
On November 5, 2009, Hasan entered a medical processing center at Fort Hood, where soldiers were preparing for deployment or receiving medical evaluations.
He then opened fire.
Thirteen people were killed, while 32 others were wounded. The attack became one of the deadliest mass shootings ever carried out at an American military installation.
Many of those inside the building initially struggled to understand what was happening. Some reportedly believed the sounds were part of a military exercise until they saw the injured and realized that live ammunition was being fired.
Hasan was eventually shot by a responding police officer. He survived but was left partially paralyzed and has since used a wheelchair.
During his 2013 court-martial, Hasan represented himself and made little effort to dispute that he was responsible for the shooting. He told jurors that the evidence would show he had been the gunman and described himself as a soldier who had “switched sides.”
A military jury convicted him of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder. He was sentenced to death and dismissed from the Army.
Years of appeals followed
Although Hasan received his death sentence in 2013, military capital cases move through an extensive review process.
His conviction and sentence were upheld by the military appeals system. In March 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear his case, clearing another major legal obstacle.
Hegseth subsequently announced that he would seek presidential authorization to carry out the sentence.
“I am 100% committed to ensuring the death penalty is carried out for Nidal Hasan,” Hegseth said.
He described Hasan as a terrorist who deserved the harshest punishment permitted by law and argued that the victims and survivors had already waited too long for justice.
Trump has now granted the approval Hegseth requested.
Even so, Hasan could file a habeas corpus petition in the civilian federal court system. Such a challenge could temporarily halt the process and open a new round of litigation.
The first military execution since 1961
If Hasan’s execution proceeds, it will be the first carried out by the U.S. military in 65 years.
The last service member executed under the military justice system was Army Private John Bennett. He was hanged in 1961 after being convicted of raping and attempting to murder an 11-year-old girl in Austria.
The Army has continued preparing for the possibility of another execution despite the decades-long gap.
Army spokesperson Cynthia Smith previously explained that execution-related exercises have been conducted regularly as part of contingency planning.
“These drills are a standard component of our continued planning and preparation if the president approves a death sentence,” Smith said.
Those preparations could now move from exercises to an actual operation.
Only four prisoners remain on military death row
Hasan is one of four men currently awaiting execution under the U.S. military justice system.
The others are Ronald Gray, Hasan Akbar and Timothy Hennis. All are being held at the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
Gray, a former Army specialist, was convicted of murder, attempted murder and rape. President George W. Bush approved his execution in 2008, but a federal judge stopped it before it could be carried out.
He remains the only other current military death-row prisoner whose execution has received presidential authorization.
Akbar was convicted of killing two officers and attempting to murder 16 others during an attack in Kuwait in 2003.
Hennis was sentenced to death for the murders of a woman and her two young daughters.
Whether Trump will eventually approve executions in any of those cases remains unknown.
Trump’s broader push for capital punishment
Trump has supported a more aggressive use of the death penalty since returning to the White House.
On his first day back in office, he signed an executive order directing federal authorities to pursue capital punishment more actively. The policy reversed the approach taken under the Biden administration, which had paused federal executions.
During the final months of Trump’s first term, the federal government executed 13 prisoners between July 2020 and January 2021.
The approval of Hasan’s execution now extends that approach into the military justice system.
But Trump’s decision does more than revive a sentence handed down in 2013. It creates the possibility that the United States military could conduct its first execution in more than six decades—and that a firing squad could be responsible for carrying it out.
For the families of the 13 people killed at Fort Hood, the announcement marks a decisive moment after years of appeals and uncertainty.
For Hasan, it begins a final legal battle over whether the sentence imposed more than a decade ago will finally be enforced.
