U.S. Army Major and psychiatrist Nidal Malik Hasan, who killed 13 people in a November 2009 attack at Fort Hood near Killeen, Texas, will face execution by firing squad under an order from President Donald Trump.
Hasan was convicted of the mass shooting that injured at least 30 others and sentenced to death following a 2013 court-martial. In court, he stated his actions were intended to keep the United States out of Afghanistan and prevent the killing of fellow Muslims.
According to a statement from Sean Parnell, spokesperson for Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, President Trump approved the U.S. Army’s recommendation for Hasan’s execution by firing squad on Monday. “The Secretary of the Army will set the time and place of the execution. Judgement day for Hasan has finally come,” Parnell wrote.
The U.S. Army has not carried out capital punishment for 65 years. During the attack, Hasan yelled “Allahu Akbar” before opening fire with a laser-sighted handgun, intentionally targeting military members. His rampage ended when Fort Hood civilian police Sergeant Mark Todd fired at him and paralyzed him from the waist down.
Hasan would have avoided execution had just one member of the court-martial jury voted for life in prison instead of death, but they unanimously recommended the death penalty. Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas endorsed the decision, stating: “Nidal Hasan is a radical Islamist terrorist who carried out an attack in Texas that killed and injured dozens of Americans. He deserves to be executed for his crimes.”
The Fort Hood attack remains the deadliest terror incident in U.S. history since 9/11 until the San Bernardino shooting in 2015, which killed 14 people. Hasan is one of four men on military death row at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas.
