BREAKING: Army sets Dec. 3 firing squad execution for Fort Hood terrorist Nidal Hasan
The execution is scheduled to take place at Fort Hood, Texas, at 1 pm CT.
The US Army has set a Dec. 3 execution date for Fort Hood terrorist Nidal Hasan, who will be put to death by firing squad at the site of the 2009 mass shooting where he murdered 13 people and wounded 32 others.
Acting Secretary of the Army Adam Telle signed an execution order Tuesday directing that Hasan be executed at Fort Hood, Texas, at 1 pm Central Time on Thursday, Dec. 3, 2026.
The signed order states that President Donald Trump approved Hasan’s death sentence on Oct. 2. It directs that the execution be carried out by firing squad in accordance with Army regulations and names the commandant of the United States Disciplinary Barracks as the execution officer.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth recommended that Hasan be executed by a US Army firing squad, and Trump approved the recommendation.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell announced the decision Monday, writing, “Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has recommended — and President Donald J. Trump has approved — death by U.S. Army firing squad for convicted terrorist Nidal Malik Hasan, the jihadist who opened fire on unarmed American soldiers at Fort Hood in 2009.”
“He killed 13 people and wounded 32 others while shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ during the attack,” Parnell added. “Judgment Day for Hasan has finally come.”
Hasan, then an Army major and psychiatrist, opened fire at Fort Hood’s Soldier Readiness Processing Center on Nov. 5, 2009, killing 12 soldiers and one civilian and wounding 32 others. He was shot by responding law enforcement and left paralyzed before being taken into custody.
A military jury convicted Hasan in 2013 of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder and sentenced him to death. He has since been held on death row at the US Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
Hasan represented himself during his court-martial and acknowledged carrying out the shooting. He told jurors that the evidence would show he was the shooter and described himself as a soldier who had “switched sides.” He also sought to argue that he acted in defense of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.
The Supreme Court declined to hear Hasan’s appeal in 2025, leaving his conviction and death sentence intact.
If carried out as scheduled, Hasan’s death would mark the first US military execution since 1961, when Army Pvt. John Bennett was hanged at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Bennett was the last person executed under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The Army’s last execution by firing squad occurred in 1945, when Pvt. Eddie Slovik was executed in France after being convicted of desertion during World War II.
Hasan is currently being held at the US Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth. Despite the Dec. 3 execution order, further litigation could delay the execution. Hasan can still seek habeas corpus review in the civilian federal court system, a process that could potentially put the execution on hold.