Fort Hood gunman to face firing squad
U.S. President Donald Trump has approved the execution by firing squad of Nidal Malik Hasan, the former Army major who killed 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009, reports a Qazinform News Agency correspondent.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell announced the decision on Monday, saying the execution method had been recommended by Pete Hegseth.
“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 wrote on X.
“The Secretary of the Army will set the time and place of the execution. Judgement day for Hasan has finally come,” he added.
No execution date or location has been announced.
Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, opened fire at Fort Hood, Texas, on November 5, 2009, killing 13 people and wounding 32 others.
He represented himself during his court-martial and was convicted of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder. According to the U.S. Army’s official account, he was sentenced to death on August 28, 2013. The sentence also included dismissal from military service and forfeiture of all pay and allowances.
The execution would be the U.S. military’s first since 1961, when Private John A. Bennett was hanged at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
It would also mark the military’s first execution by firing squad since World War II. Private Eddie Slovik was executed using that method in 1945 after being convicted of desertion.
Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that four people were killed in a U.S. military strike on a vessel allegedly involved in drug trafficking in the Caribbean, according to U.S. Southern Command.
