Former U.S. Army Major Nidal Hasan is set to face execution by firing squad more than 17 years after the deadly Fort Hood shooting that left 13 people dead and 32 others wounded.
Acting U.S. Army Secretary Adam Telle announced that Hasan’s execution has been scheduled for December 3, 2026, at 1 p.m. Central Time at Fort Hood, Texas, the same military installation where he carried out the 2009 attack. The decision makes Hasan’s case one of the most significant military death-penalty cases in the United States in decades.
Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist, was convicted by a military court in 2013 on 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder. He was subsequently sentenced to death and dismissed from the Army. Official Army records confirm that the military jury returned its verdict after the prosecution presented evidence surrounding the November 5, 2009 attack.
The shooting occurred at a medical facility at Fort Hood as soldiers prepared for deployment. Hasan opened fire, killing 13 people and injuring dozens of others. He was eventually shot and wounded by responding police officers and has remained paralyzed since the attack.
The planned execution follows President Donald Trump’s approval of the firing-squad method after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recommended it. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell confirmed the decision, saying the Army firing squad would carry out the execution. Parnell also wrote that “Judgment day for Hasan has finally come.”
If carried out as scheduled, Hasan’s execution would mark the first execution conducted by the U.S. military since 1961. It would also be the first U.S. military firing-squad execution since 1945, making the case historically significant beyond the circumstances of the Fort Hood attack.
Hasan was sentenced to death after representing himself during his 2013 court-martial. The military justice system automatically subjected the conviction and sentence to multiple levels of review, with his death sentence ultimately surviving the appeals process.
The scheduled execution nevertheless remains subject to any further legal action Hasan may pursue in federal court. Reports indicate that a habeas corpus challenge could potentially delay the execution.
The December 3 date now places the long-running Fort Hood case at a decisive stage, bringing Hasan closer to becoming the first U.S. service member executed by the military in more than six decades.
