President Donald Trump has approved the execution of convicted Fort Hood mass shooter Nidal Malik Hasan by firing squad after a recommendation from Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, the Department of War said Monday.
Hasan was sentenced to death after a military court convicted him of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder for the November 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, Texas. The attack killed 13 people and wounded 32 others.
Hasan, an Army psychiatrist and major at the time, opened fire at the Soldier Readiness Processing Center, where service members were preparing for overseas deployments. The shooting became one of the deadliest attacks on a U.S. military installation.
In a statement, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said Hegseth recommended the firing-squad execution and Trump approved it. Parnell said the Army will determine the time and location of the execution.
“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,” Parnell said.
Hasan was convicted and sentenced to death in 2013 following a court-martial at Fort Hood. His death sentence was later upheld through the military appeals process.
The execution would be the first carried out by the U.S. military since 1961, when Army Pvt. John Bennett was executed at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
The Army has not announced when or where Hasan’s execution will take place.