Fort Hood shooter to be executed by firing squad, in first since World War Two

Fort Hood shooter to be executed by firing squad, in first since World War Two

The Pentagon has said it will put a former US Army major to death by firing squad, marking the first military execution of its kind in more than 60 years.

, a US Army major and physician, fatally shot 13 unarmed US soldiers at Fort Hood in 2009 and wounded another 32.

Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said on social media on Monday that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth had recommended the move and President Donald Trump had approved it.

This will be the first military execution by firing squad since the end of World War Two.

Hasan was found guilty by a panel of 13 officers of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder, and the panel unanimously advised that he receive the death penalty.

Parnell said the Secretary of the Army will determine the time and place of the execution.

"Judgement day for Hasan has finally come," he wrote on X.

Hasan, a US Army psychiatrist from Virginia, killed 13 soldiers at the Texas base in 2009 and later told the court he was the gunman and apologized for "any mistakes".

During his 2013 court-martial, he said he believed he was defending Muslims and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The killings on 5 November 2009 were the deadliest non-combat attack ever on an American military base.

The attack happened in a crowded medical building where soldiers preparing to deploy were waiting for check-ups and vaccines.

Hasan is now one of four inmates on the US military's death row.

Under military law, a military execution must be approved by the US president.

It also must go through appellate review and receive a final ruling on its legality before it can proceed.

The US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces ruled the military death penalty unconstitutional in 1983, but it was restored the next year by an executive order from then-President Ronald Reagan.

Military executions are different from those carried out at the state level.

Most executions in the US happen at the state level, with 27 states, the military and the federal government still allowing capital punishment as a legal option.

Execution by firing squad is relatively rare. South Carolina carried out a firing squad execution last year, the first in that state and the first use of the method in the US in 15 years.

Four other states permit firing squads: Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Utah.

Trump has supported the federal death penalty and restored it through an executive order on the first day of his administration in January 2025.

Under his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, the justice department had imposed a moratorium on federal use of the death penalty.

Trump's executive order says capital punishment is "an essential tool for deterring and punishing those who would commit the most heinous crimes and acts of lethal violence against American citizens".