Trump approved the first military execution in 65 years — by firing squad
Kyiv • UNN
Donald Trump approved the execution of Nidal Hasan by firing squad for the 2009 attack at Fort Hood. This could become the first U.S. military execution since 1961.
U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the use of the recently added execution method—firing squad—for a former U.S. Army major who killed 13 people at Fort Hood military base in Texas during a 2009 shooting. The U.S. Department of Defense reported this on October 5, UNN writes, citing Reuters.
Details
The execution of former U.S. Army major and Army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan by firing squad was approved by Trump on the recommendation of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said.
Parnell noted that Hasan shouted "Allahu Akbar"—"God is great" in Arabic—during the attack, in which 12 unarmed service members and one retired service member were killed, and 32 people were wounded. The shooter later called it revenge for U.S. wars in the Muslim world.
The secretary of the Army will determine the time and place of the execution, Parnell said, adding: "Judgment Day for Hasan has finally arrived."
Death by firing squad was one of several execution methods that the Trump administration recently added to the permissible forms of execution for the most serious federal crimes, alongside execution by electric chair and gas asphyxiation.
The expansion of execution options at the federal level was partly linked to growing difficulties in obtaining drugs for lethal injections, which can also sometimes be difficult to carry out for other reasons.
Tennessee's plans to execute a woman for the first time in more than 200 years fell through last week when prison staff unsuccessfully attempted to administer a lethal injection, leaving death-row inmate Krista Pike alive but unconscious; she was hospitalized and placed on life support.
In August 2013, a military jury sentenced Hasan to death after finding him guilty on 45 counts of premeditated murder and attempted premeditated murder for shooting a pistol equipped with a laser sight at a medical facility on a large military base in central Texas.
The shooting took place several weeks before Hasan, now 56, was scheduled to be deployed to Afghanistan. As a result of gunfire from police during his arrest, he was left partially paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair.
Military executions are rare, and under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, a death sentence imposed by a court-martial cannot be carried out "until approved by the president."
If Hasan is executed, it will be the first military execution since 1961, the organization Death Penalty Action said. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, the 1961 execution was carried out by hanging. The last known execution conducted by a U.S. military firing squad was carried out by "musket fire" in November 1945, the organization said.
According to the organization, firing squads exist in at least five states. In 2025, South Carolina carried out the first such execution in the United States in 15 years.