Fort Hood shooter to be executed by firing squad, in first since World War Two

What the report says

The Pentagon has said it will carry out the execution of former US Army major Nidal Malik Hasan by firing squad, a rare method that would mark the first US military execution in more than 60 years and the first firing-squad execution in the military since World War Two. BBC World News reported that the decision was announced by Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell, who said Secretary of War Pete Hegseth recommended the move and President Donald Trump approved it.

Hasan, a physician and Army psychiatrist from Virginia, was convicted by a military jury of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder after the 2009 attack at Fort Hood in Texas. He fatally shot 13 unarmed soldiers and injured 32 others in what BBC described as the deadliest non-combat attack ever on an American military base. The article said the attack occurred in a crowded medical building where soldiers were waiting for check-ups and vaccines.

According to the report, the Secretary of the Army will determine the timing and location of the execution. Hasan is currently one of four inmates on the US military’s death row. The case is significant because it highlights the limited but continuing use of capital punishment in the military justice system, as well as the unusually rare use of firing squad executions in the United States.