WASHINGTON â President Donald Trump has approved the execution of Nidal Malik Hasan by an Army firing squad, the Pentagon announced Monday, nearly 17 years after the Army psychiatrist killed 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas.
The decision moves Hasanâs death sentence toward implementation after years of appeals. If carried out, it would be the first U.S. military execution since 1961. No date or location has been announced.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recommended the firing squad and Trump approved it, according to the Pentagon statement published by Military Times.
âThe Secretary of the Army will set the time and place of the execution,â Parnell said. âJudgement day for Hasan has finally come.â
The attack that left 13 families grieving
On November 5, 2009, Hasan entered Fort Hoodâs crowded Soldier Readiness Processing Center and opened fire with a semiautomatic handgun. Twelve soldiers and one civilian employee were killed. Among the victims was Francheska Velez, a 21-year-old pregnant soldier.
Police confronted Hasan outside the building and shot him. He survived, but was left permanently paralysed from the waist down. He is held at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
The military appellate judgment describes months of preparation, including buying ammunition and practising at a shooting range. Hasan had been selected to deploy to Afghanistan the following month.
The judgment records 31 people wounded by gunfire. His 32 attempted-murder convictions included a police officer with whom he exchanged shots but who was not struck.
Hasan represented himself at trial, admitted being the shooter and sought to portray the attack as a defence of Taliban leadership. A military panel convicted him of 13 premeditated murders and 32 attempted premeditated murders on August 23, 2013. Five days later, it sentenced him to death.
For the families, the proceedings meant describing lives changed by the attack. Michael Cahill, the civilian employee killed, had tried to stop Hasan, his widow testified. After sentencing, Melissa Czemerda, daughter of victim Lt. Col. Juanita Warman, said in a statement released by the Army in 2013: âWe are thankful for the just verdict that has finally been rendered.â
Recognition of the victims also took years. Following a congressional change to eligibility rules, victims and families received Purple Hearts and civilian equivalent medals at an April 2015 ceremony.
Survivor Dorothy Carskadon said then that receiving the Purple Heart validated her experience. âIt validates that it was a terrorist activity,â she said, according to the Armyâs account of the ceremony.
Approval leaves further steps before execution
The Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces upheld Hasanâs conviction and sentence in September 2023. The Supreme Court declined to hear his petition on March 31, 2025, according to its case docket.
Presidential approval does not eliminate the possibility of further litigation. An Army Lawyer analysis of military death sentences explains that approval begins execution preparations while allowing a prisoner to seek review through federal habeas corpus proceedings.
The last military execution was the hanging of Private John Bennett at Fort Leavenworth on April 13, 1961. Hasanâs case could end that decades-long interval, although the timing remains unresolved.
The announcement also follows renewed scrutiny of execution procedures after Christa Pike survived Tennesseeâs lethal-injection attempt. Officials have not publicly explained why a firing squad was selected for Hasan.
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