US authorities have announced that former US Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan will be executed by firing squad, making this the first military execution by this method in the US since the end of World War II.
Hasan, a US Army doctor and psychiatrist, was found guilty of killing 13 soldiers and wounding 32 others during the attack on the Fort Hood military base in Texas on November 5, 2009.
The attack was the deadliest incident to occur at a US military base outside a war zone.
According to a Pentagon statement, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has recommended the execution and President Donald Trump has approved it. The time and place of the execution will be determined by the Secretary of the Army.
Hasan was convicted in 2013 after a panel of 13 officers found him guilty of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder. The panel voted unanimously in favor of the death penalty.
During the military trial, Hasan admitted to being the perpetrator of the shootings and said he acted in the belief that he was protecting Muslims and the Taliban in Afghanistan. He also apologized for what he called his “mistakes.”
The attack took place in a building filled with soldiers awaiting medical check-ups and vaccinations before being sent on missions. Hasan opened fire on them, killing 13 people and wounding dozens more.
Hasan is currently one of four prisoners on the U.S. military's death row. Under U.S. military law, a military execution requires the approval of the president, pending the completion of judicial review procedures and a final decision on the legality of the execution.
Executions by firing squad are extremely rare in the United States. The method is still permitted in some states, while a firing squad execution was carried out in South Carolina last year, the first in that state.
The Trump administration has supported the use of the death penalty at the federal level. In January 2025, President Trump signed an executive order that restored the active use of the federal death penalty, after the Joe Biden administration had imposed a moratorium on federal executions.