Seventeen years after one of the deadliest attacks ever carried out on a U.S. military installation, the man responsible is finally facing a date with justice. The Pentagon has announced that Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army officer who opened fire on fellow soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009, will be executed by U.S. Army firing squad.
Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell announced the decision Monday, stating:
“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, 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.”
Parnell continued:
“The Secretary of the Army will set the time and place of the execution. Judgement day for Hasan has finally come.”
A Mass Shooting That Shook the Military
On November 5, 2009, Hasan — then an active-duty Army psychiatrist — walked into a Fort Hood readiness processing center and opened fire with a semi-automatic handgun. He killed 13 people, including a pregnant soldier, and wounded 32 others. Hasan, who was born in northern Virginia, was 56 years old at the time of the Pentagon’s announcement.
Among the survivors was former Army Staff Sgt. Patrick Zeigler, a two-time combat veteran who was shot four times during the rampage. Zeigler spent nearly a year recovering across multiple hospitals. Recounting the moment Hasan targeted him, Zeigler told the Killeen Daily Herald in 2023:
“He looked me straight in the eyes as he pointed the gun at me, and a split second later, I’m on the floor with a hole in my head.”
Hasan’s Own Words at Trial
At his court-martial, Hasan admitted to carrying out the shooting. In 2013, he stated that the attack was committed in support of the Taliban. He had sought a delay in proceedings to prepare a legal strategy arguing he acted “in defense of others.” When presiding Judge Col. Tara Osborn asked who he was defending, Hasan replied:
“The leadership of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the Taliban.”
A military jury convicted Hasan in August 2013 and recommended the death sentence, which has now been formally approved for execution by firing squad.
A Historic Method of Execution
If carried out as announced, Hasan’s execution would be the first by U.S. Army firing squad since January 31, 1945, when Pvt. Eddie D. Slovik was shot in France for desertion during World War II. The last military execution of any kind took place in 1961, when Army Pvt. John Bennett was hanged at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, after being convicted of raping and attempting to kill a young girl.
Following his 2013 conviction, Hasan was transferred to Fort Leavenworth, where he has remained on death row. The Secretary of the Army is expected to set the time and place of the execution.
