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Fort Hood shooter to be executed by firing squad - a first for US military since World War Two
BBC • • general
Key Points:
- The Pentagon announced it will carry out the first military execution by firing squad in over 60 years, approving the sentence for former US Army Major Nidal Hasan.
- Hasan was convicted of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder for the 2009 shooting at a Texas military base, which killed 13 soldiers in the deadliest non-combat attack on a US military base.
- The death sentence was unanimously recommended by a jury of 13 officers, and the Secretary of the Army will determine the execution's time and place.
- Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist, admitted to the shootings during his 2013 court-martial, claiming he acted to protect Muslims and the Taliban in Afghanistan.
- While the military death penalty was briefly deemed unconstitutional in 1983, it was reinstated in 1984 by executive order; death by firing squad remains rare, with the last US firing squad execution occurring in South Carolina in 2022.
