Fort Hood Shooter Gets His Execution Date

The U.S. Army has scheduled convicted Fort Hood mass shooter Nidal Malik Hasan to die by firing squad Dec. 3 at the Texas military installation where he killed 13 people in 2009.

The execution would be the first carried out by the U.S. military since 1961, when Army Pvt. John Bennett was hanged at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, according to the U.S. Army. President Donald Trump approved Hasan’s execution after Secretary of War Pete Hegseth recommended that his death sentence be carried out by an Army firing squad.

Hasan was an Army major and psychiatrist when he opened fire inside Fort Hood’s Soldier Readiness Processing Center on Nov. 5, 2009, killing 13 people and attempting to kill another 32, according to the U.S. Army.

Hasan shouted “Allahu akbar” before opening fire with a laser-sighted handgun and later said he sought to prevent American troops from deploying to Afghanistan and killing Muslims, the Associated Press reported. Hasan made little effort to contest that he carried out the shooting during his court-martial and described himself to jurors as a soldier who had “switched sides,” according to the outlet.

A military panel unanimously convicted Hasan of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder before sentencing him to death on Aug. 28, 2013, according to the U.S. Army. The sentence also included dismissal from the Army and forfeiture of his pay and allowances.

Hasan subsequently exhausted the direct military appellate process, with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces affirming his case in March 2024, according to the court’s official opinions docket. The Supreme Court denied Hasan’s petition for review on March 31, 2025, according to the Supreme Court.

Hasan’s execution packet was moving through the military bureaucracy toward final presidential action in September 2025, the Daily Caller News Foundation exclusively reported, citing a Department of War official. Hegseth was “100 percent committed” to ensuring Hasan’s death penalty was carried out, he told the DCNF at the time.

“This savage terrorist deserves the harshest lawful punishment for his 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood. The victims and survivors deserve justice without delays,” Hegseth told the DCNF in 2025.

Trump gave the final approval after Hegseth’s recommendation, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell announced Monday, according to the DCNF. Parnell said at the time that “judgment day for Hasan has finally come.”