Fort Hood shooter to be executed by firing squad - a first for US military since World War Two

The Pentagon announced Monday that it will execute former Army Major Nidal Hasan by firing squad for fatally shooting 13 unarmed soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas, on November 5, 2009. The execution, approved by President Donald Trump on the recommendation of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, will be the first US military firing squad execution since World War Two. Hasan, a psychiatrist from Virginia who injured 32 others in the attack, admitted during his 2013 court-martial that he was the gunman and stated he believed he was protecting Muslims and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The execution requires appellate review and legal judgment before proceeding. Hasan is one of four inmates on the US military's death row. Military executions require presidential approval under military law, a requirement reinstated by executive order in 1984 after the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces had deemed the military death penalty unconstitutional three years earlier.