On November 5, 2009, U.S. Army Major and psychiatrist Nidal Hasan opened fire at Fort Hood, Texas. It was a terrorist attack; Hasan yelled "Allahu Akbar" before opening fire. He1`q killed 13 people while wounding more than 30 others. Hasan was shot by police and left paralyzed from the waist down.
In 2013, a military court convicted him of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder. Nidal Hasan was sentenced to death.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has now recommended that Hasan be executed by firing squad, and President Trump has approved. A date for that execution has yet to be set.
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…
— Sean Parnell (@SeanParnellASW) October 5, 2026
"The Secretary of the Army will set the time and place of the execution," Parnell wrote on X. "Judgment day for Hasan has finally come."
Secretary Hegseth called this justice.
Justice. https://t.co/MR9P2KBFPW
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) October 5, 2026
Pvt. John Bennett was last executed by hanging on April 13, 1961, after he attempted to murder an 11-year-old girl in Austria. President George W. Bush also approved of a military execution but was stopped by a federal court in 2008.
In Hasan's case, he took a pistol and a 0.357 revolver with him to a mosque where he attended noon prayers. He then drove to a soldier readiness processing facility, an administrative building, full of what Hasan knew were going to be unarmed soldiers. After shouting "Allahu Akbar," Hasan unloaded into "the greatest density of soldiers," according to witness statements.
"I shot to kill," Hasan told the Sanity Board report.
Hasan was eventually detained after engaging in a firefight with law enforcement, sustaining multiple gunshot wounds. He was apprehended and rushed to intensive care. According to the sanity report, he denied experiencing depressive, manic, psychotic, anxiety or cognitive symptoms during the attack.
Hasan was court-martialed four years later and sentenced to death.
Hasan has exhausted all of his military appeals. In 2020, the Army Court of Criminal Appeals upheld the death sentence. The sentence was affirmed by the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces in 2023 and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case in March of last year.
The Uniform Code of Military Justice says a court-martial death sentence cannot be carried out until a president approves it, and then the Army rules call for the execution to be scheduled no sooner than 60 days and no later than 150 days after that approval.
Despite Secretary Hegseth's recommendation and President Trump's approval, Hasan can still try to stall the execution in civilian court by filing a habeas corpus petition in federal court that challenges the legality of his conviction or imprisonment. That could stay the execution, and possibly for years.
Right now, Hasan is one of four men on the military death row at Fort Leavenworth.
Editor's Note: Thanks to President Trump and War Secretary Pete Hegseth's leadership, the warrior ethos is coming back to America's military.
Help us continue to report on Trump and Hegseth's successes as they make our military great again. Join Townhall VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.
Join the Conversation
VIP members get the ability to comment on articles.