US Army soldiers stand during an honor guard for one of the victims of the Fort Hood shooting in November 2009. Nidal Malik Hasan, the shooter, is slated to be executed by firing squad, though it is unclear when this will take place. (US Army/Sgt. John Ortiz)
Trump Approves Firing Squad for Fort Hood Mass Shooter
Though the firing squad is commonly associated with military justice, the US Army has primarily hanged its death row inmates—and has only performed a handful of executions since 1945.
President Donald Trump has approved the execution by firing squad of former United States Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan. Hasan had previously been sentenced to death for a mass shooting at Fort Hood on November 5, 2009, in which he had killed 14 people (including an unborn baby) and injured 32 others with a semi-automatic handgun.
A former Army psychiatrist, Hasan had been radicalized in support of al-Qaeda and the Taliban during the late 2000s, and had consulted with American-born al-Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, prior to the attack. Controversially, although the US government was aware of Hasan’s contacts with al-Awlaki, it took no action until after the shooting.
Although the US Army charged Hasan with murder rather than terrorism, a United States Senate report later described the shooting as “the worst terrorist attack on US soil since September 11, 2001.”
At his court-martial, Hansan admitted to the shooting, and later said he carried out the attack in support of the Taliban. He was convicted by a military jury in August 2013, which recommended the death sentence. Hansan has been incarcerated on death row at the US military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, since his conviction.
Trump Has Resumed the Federal Death Penalty
Trump approved the firing squad execution at the recommendation of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
“Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has recommended—and President Donald J. Trump has approved—death by US 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,” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell wrote in a post on X, excluding the unborn baby from the death toll. “The Secretary of the Army will set the time and place of the execution. Judgement day for Hasan has finally come.”
Trump’s approval for the firing squad also comes days after a failed attempt to execute death row inmate Christa Pike by lethal injection in Tennessee, which prompted the state’s governor to halt all further executions this year. In the aftermath of that incident, analysts noted that lethal injection had the highest failure rate of any major type of execution, including hanging and electrocution. The firing squad, by contrast, had never failed.
Trump resumed the federal death penalty in 2021, following an informal moratorium that was put in place by previous administrations.
The Last Execution by Firing Squad
Firing squad executions have long been associated with the military—perhaps owing to the ready availability of firearms—and are only sporadically used as a form of civilian execution.
The last civilian execution by firing squad took place March 7, 2025 in South Carolina, when Brad Keith Sigmon was executed for beating his ex-girlfriend’s parents to death. Before Sigmon’s execution, the form of capital punishment had not been used for nearly a decade, since Ronnie Lee Gardner was executed in June 2010 at the Utah State Prison. Gardner had been executed for killing a lawyer and bailiff in an attempt to escape a court hearing, where he was on trial for another murder.
There hadn’t been a United States military firing squad execution since 1945, when Pvt. Eddie D. Slovik was executed by a US Army firing squad in France for desertion. Slovik, who had a prison record for automobile theft, was also the first soldier since the American Civil War to be executed for desertion. A nine-officer court-martial panel passed a unanimous sentence, which called for him “to be shot to death by musketry.”
In total, the US Army executed 141 of its own personnel during the war for a variety of crimes, but nearly all of these executions were hangings rather than firing squads.
The last US soldier to be executed in any capacity was US Army Pvt. John Bennett, who was hanged at Fort Leavenworth in April 1961 after being convicted of the rape and attempted murder of a young girl.
When Will Hasan Be Executed? We Still Don’t Know
Even with Trump’s approval, Hasan won’t likely face a firing squad for years, if ever.
Four military personnel, including Hasan, are currently on death row in Fort Leavenworth. One of them is Army Spc. Ronald Gray, whom former President George W. Bush approved for execution in 2008. However, a judge put the execution on hold, and it is unclear when it will be carried out.
Hasan is legally eligible to file a habeas corpus appeal in the civilian federal court system, which could potentially delay his execution for years.
About the Author: Peter Suciu
Peter Suciu has contributed to dozens of newspapers, magazines, and websites over a 30-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a contributing writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. He is based in Michigan. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author at Editor@nationalinterest.org.
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