Trump orders firing-squad execution for Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan

US President Donald Trump has approved the execution by firing squad of former Army psychiatrist Major Nidal Hasan, who was sentenced to death for killing 13 people in a 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, Texas.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the execution was approved following a recommendation by Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth.

“Judgement day for Hasan has finally come,” Parnell said in a statement posted on X.

The Army secretary will determine the date and location of the execution.

Hasan was convicted by a military jury in 2013 of 45 counts of premeditated murder and attempted murder. The November 2009 attack killed 12 active-duty soldiers and a retired serviceman, while dozens of others were wounded.

“Hasan will be killed by a firing squad,” Parnell said.

Hasan, a US citizen of Palestinian descent, was arrested at the scene after being shot and left partially paralysed. During his court-martial, he said he carried out the attack to prevent soldiers from deploying to Afghanistan and killing Muslims.

If the execution goes ahead, Hasan would become the first US service member executed by the military since 1961.

The US military has carried out very few executions in modern history. The last known military firing-squad execution was reportedly carried out by musketry in November 1945.

The Trump administration formally added firing squads, along with gas asphyxiation and electrocution, to the approved methods of execution in April 2026.