Former US Army major Nidal Hasan is due to be executed by firing squad on 3 December 2026 at Fort Hood, the Texas military post where he killed 13 people in 2009.
The execution will be the first carried out by the US military since 1961. Families of the victims were informed of the date before the announcement.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the use of an Army firing squad had been recommended by Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and approved by President Trump.
“Judgement day for Hasan has finally come,” Mr Parnell wrote.
Hasan, now 56, was an Army psychiatrist when he opened fire at a readiness centre on 5 November 2009. The unarmed soldiers there were preparing to deploy.
He fired 146 times, killing 13 people and injuring 32 others. Witnesses said he shouted “Allahu Akbar” before the attack, and he was paralysed from the chest down when police returned fire.
Hasan was convicted and has been held on death row at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. His execution is set to take place at Fort Hood, where the shooting happened.
Why a firing squad?
Under Army regulation 190-55, a military execution can be approved only by the president. A revision made in 2019 removed the term “lethal injection” from the regulation and left the method to be designated by the secretary of the Army.
The regulation says the method is recommended to the secretary by the provost marshal general. Once the president’s decision has been made, the prisoner is informed in person by the commandant, accompanied by a chaplain and, where available, a defence lawyer.
The last military execution was carried out 65 years ago, when Army private John Bennett was hanged after being convicted of rape and the attempted murder of an 11-year-old girl. The last execution by firing squad took place during the Second World War, when private Eddie Slovik was put to death in France for desertion.
Relatives of those killed, together with survivors, have been asked whether they wish to attend the planned execution. The families have remained connected through the 17 years since the attack.
The dead were Lieutenant Colonel Juanita Warman, 55; Major Libardo Eduardo Caraveo, 52; Captain John P Gaffaney, 56; Captain Russell Seager, 51; Staff Sergeant Justin DeCrow, 32; Sergeant Amy Krueger, 29; Specialist Jason Dean Hunt, 22; Specialist Frederick Z Greene, 29; Private First Class Aaron T Nemelka, 19; Private First Class Michael S Pearson, 22; Private First Class Kham S Xiong, 23; Private Francheska Velez, 21, and her unborn child; and Michael Grant Cahill, 62.
