Trump approves execution by firing squad for Fort Hood shooter who killed 13

Convicted Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan will be executed by firing squad.

President Trump has approved execution by firing squad for the jihadist who carried out a mass shooting in 2009 at a military base in Fort Hood, Texas, that left 12 unarmed U.S. service members dead, a civilian dead and another 32 wounded.

Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell announced the decision in a post on X Monday evening. "Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has recommended — and President Donald J. Trump has approved — death by U.S. Army firing squad for convicted terrorist Nidal Malik Hasan, the jihadist who opened fire on unarmed American soldiers at Fort Hood in 2009. He killed 13 people and wounded 32 others while shouting 'Allahu Akbar' during the attack," Parnell said. "The Secretary of the Army will set the time and place of the execution. Judgement day for Hasan has finally come," he added. 

According to ABC News, the military must carry out the execution no more than 150 days after the president's approval of the the method, and no earlier than 60 days after the president's sign-off. An execution date was not immediately announced.

At the time of the shooting, Hasan was working as an Army psychiatrist. On Nov. 9, 2009, he opened fired at the Soldier Readiness Processing Center at the Fort Hood military base as soldiers were lined up to receive vaccinations. A responding officer shot Hasan in the back, which ended the attack and left him paralyzed. Hasan was convicted in 2013 of murdering 13 and attempting to murder 32, and sentenced to die. During the trial, he said he had been defending “the leadership of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the Taliban.”

In the years since his conviction and sentencing, Hasan's radical Islamic views haven't waned. During the botched U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, Hasan wrote a letter celebrating the return of the Taliban. “We Have Won!!!” he wrote, Fox News reported. “All-Praises be to All-Mighty Allah! Congratulations on your victory over those who hate for the Laws of All-Mighty God to be supreme on the land,” he went on in the letter. “I pray to Allah that He helps you implement Shariah Law fully, correctly, and fairly.”

ABC News reported that Hasan's execution will be the first execution carried out by the U.S. military in 60 years. Hegseth responded on X to Parnell's announcement with just one word: "Justice."

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