Trump approves firing squad execution for US military base shooter Nidal Hasan

US President Donald Trump has given the go-ahead for Nidal Hasan to be executed by firing squad, the Pentagon announced on Monday. Hasan is a former US Army psychiatrist who killed 13 people and wounded over two dozen others in a 2009 shooting at Fort Hood military base in Texas. This execution would mark the first carried out by the US military since 1961.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recommended the death penalty, which President Trump subsequently approved. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell stated that the Secretary of the Army will determine the execution's timing and location. Hasan was convicted in 2013 of the al-Qaeda-inspired massacre, for which he had represented himself during the trial, refusing to call witnesses or provide testimony.

He maintained that the attack was motivated by opposition to US military engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as a connection to radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaqi. While mass shootings are frequent in the US, they are uncommon at military installations. Since 2025, there have been multiple instances of shootings at military bases, including a soldier who wounded five comrades in Georgia, a sailor who killed two in Hawaii, and a Saudi military student who murdered three in Florida.