Trump Approves Army Firing Squad for Fort Hood Gunman

President Donald Trump has approved a recommendation to execute Nidal Malik Hasan by U.S. Army firing squad, a decision announced Monday by Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell and one that moves forward a military death sentence tied to the 2009 Fort Hood massacre. Hasan, a former Army officer, was convicted for killing 13 people and wounding 32 others after opening fire on unarmed service members while shouting “Allahu Akbar.”

Parnell said on X that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth recommended the method of execution and that Trump signed off on it. He described Hasan as a convicted terrorist and said the approval means the Army secretary will now determine the time and place of the execution. Parnell added, “Judgment day for Hasan has finally come.”

If the sentence is carried out, it would mark the first U.S. military execution approved and completed with presidential authorization since 1961. The military death penalty is reserved for the most serious offenses under the Uniform Code of Military Justice and is considered the harshest punishment available through a court-martial. The last service member executed by the military was Pvt. John Bennett, who was hanged on April 13, 1961, after attempting to murder an 11-year-old girl in Austria.

A later military execution was approved during George W. Bush’s presidency, but a federal court blocked it in 2008. Hasan’s case therefore stands apart because it has now cleared years of military and civilian appellate review. After a court upheld his death sentence in early 2025, his legal team asked the Supreme Court to review procedural objections involving the way the trial was conducted. That request was denied.

The Fort Hood attack

According to the case record summarized in the source material, Hasan took a pistol and a .357 revolver with him after attending noon prayers at a mosque. He then drove to a soldier readiness processing facility, an administrative building where he knew soldiers would be unarmed. Witness statements said he shouted “Allahu Akbar” and fired into what was described as “the greatest density of soldiers.”

Hasan later told a Sanity Board report, “I shot to kill.” He was eventually stopped after a gun battle with law enforcement, during which he suffered multiple gunshot wounds. He was taken into custody and rushed to intensive care. The same sanity report said Hasan denied having depressive, manic, psychotic, anxiety or cognitive symptoms during the attack.

Trial and appeals

Hasan was court-martialed four years after the shooting and sentenced to death. During sentencing, Army records said prosecutors relied in part on emotional testimony from survivors and relatives of those killed. One witness, Joleen Cahill, spoke about her husband, retired Chief Warrant Officer Michael Cahill, and said he gave his life trying to stop Hasan, while also describing the damage the attack caused her family.

Because the sentence was death, the case automatically moved through the military appellate system, including review by the U.S. Army Criminal Court of Appeals and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. With those stages exhausted and the Supreme Court declining review, the presidential approval announced this week removes another major barrier. Nearly 17 years after the Fort Hood massacre, the case has entered its final phase under military law.