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US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said convicted Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan's execution will be carried out publicly by firing squad at the Texas base where he killed 13 people and wounded 32 in 2009. Trump approved his execution earlier this month.
Fort Hood mass shooter Nidal Hasan to face public firing squad execution.
Oct 9, 2026 03:36 IST
US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has said the execution of former Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan, convicted of killing 13 people in the 2009 Fort Hood mass shooting, will be carried out publicly by a firing squad at the same Texas military base where he committed the attack.
Speaking to Real America's Voice on Thursday, Hegseth said the execution would be made accessible for people to watch, arguing that the public needed to understand the consequences of such crimes.
Secretary Hegseth was asked about the execution of Nidal Hasan: "No-brainer—execution by firing squad... Of course we're doing it at Fort Hood. We're going to do it at 1 o'clock—which is when he did it. It's going to be soldiers with rifles executing the firing squad."— DOW Rapid Response (@DOWResponse) October 8, 2026
“We’re gonna make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public, because people need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things,” Hegseth said.
Hegseth also said the execution should take place at Fort Hood because that was where Hasan carried out the deadly shooting. He said soldiers armed with rifles would form the firing squad and indicated that the execution would take place on a Thursday at 1 pm, the same time the attack occurred.
“Army major betrays his country, radical Islamist kills a bunch of Americans at Fort Hood. Of course we’re doing it at Fort Hood,” Hegseth said.
The US Army has scheduled Hasan's execution for December 3, 2026, at 1 pm Central Standard Time at Fort Hood. President Donald Trump approved the death sentence on October 2, following Hegseth's recommendation, according to the Army.
THE 2009 FORT HOOD SHOOTING
Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist, opened fire on fellow service members at Fort Hood on November 5, 2009, killing 13 people and wounding 32 others. The attack was one of the deadliest shootings on a US military installation.
He was convicted by a military jury in 2013 on 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder and sentenced to death. During his trial, Hasan acknowledged carrying out the shooting and said he had switched sides in the conflict, seeking to protect Taliban fighters and other Muslims from US forces.
Hasan has remained on military death row since his conviction. If carried out as scheduled, his execution would be the first by the US military since 1961 and the first by an Army firing squad since 1945.
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