Fort Hood shooter to be executed by firing squad: All to know

Key Points:

• President Donald Trump has approved the death by firing squad of Nidal Malik Hasan, convicted for the 2009 Fort Hood mass shooting, marking a potential revival of military executions that have not occurred since 1961.
• Hasan, a former army psychiatrist, killed 13 people and wounded 32 in a shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, motivated by opposition to US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and ties to extremist figures.
• Despite Hasan's conviction and death sentence in 2013, the military justice process delayed execution through mandatory appeals, with the death penalty upheld by multiple military courts and the US Supreme Court declining review in 2025.
• Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recommended the execution, and Army Secretary Adam Telle will set the execution date; Hasan can still seek to delay the process through civilian federal court appeals, though this is considered unlikely.
• Hasan is currently held at the US Disciplinary Barracks in Fort Leavenworth, alongside other military death row inmates; the last military execution was in 1961, involving hanging for a non-combat crime.