US Army sets December 3 execution for Fort Hood shooter

The United States Army has scheduled the execution of former Major Nidal Hasan, convicted of killing 13 people in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting, for December 3, 2026.

Hasan will be executed by firing squad at Fort Hood, Texas, where the attack occurred, at 1 p.m. Central Standard Time, according to an execution order signed by Acting Secretary of the Army Adam Telle on October 6.

The execution, if carried out, would be the first by the US military since 1961 and the first military firing-squad execution since 1945.

The order followed President Donald Trump’s approval of Hasan’s death sentence on October 2, after Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth recommended the firing-squad method.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell had announced the decision, saying Hegseth recommended and Trump approved Hasan’s execution by a US Army firing squad.

Hasan was convicted by a military jury in 2013 of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder over the November 5, 2009 attack.

He opened fire at a medical facility at Fort Hood where soldiers were undergoing processing for deployment, killing 13 people and injuring 32 others. Hasan, who was an Army psychiatrist at the time, was subsequently sentenced to death.

The execution order states that the Commandant of the United States Disciplinary Barracks will serve as the execution officer.

Military executions are rare in the US and require presidential approval under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Hasan has remained on military death row since his conviction.

The planned execution marks a rare return to the military death penalty after more than six decades. The last US military prisoner executed was Army Pvt. John Bennett, who was hanged in 1961.