Trump approves military firing squad for 'jihadist' who committed terror attack that left 13 dead at Fort Hood

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By STEPHEN M. LEPORE, US SENIOR REPORTER

Published: 01:14 BST, 6 October 2026 | Updated: 01:59 BST, 6 October 2026

President Trump said the former Army major turned jihadist who killed 13 people and wounded 30 in a mass shooting at Fort Hood will face death by firing squad.

Nidal Hasan claimed he launched the terror attack over anger about being deployed to Afghanistan and a desire to protect Islamic and Taliban leaders from US troops. 

He was sentenced to death following the 2009 shooting.

Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell declared that Hasan will be just the second person since 2010 to be put to death by a firing squad Monday.  

'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 wrote on social media. 

'He killed 13 people and wounded 32 others while shouting "Allahu Akbar" during the attack,' Parnell added. 

'The Secretary of the Army will set the time and place of the execution. Judgement day for Hasan has finally come.'

Hegseth also circulated Parnell's message on X with a one-word reaction: 'Justice.'

The Daily Mail has reached out to the White House for comment.  

Nidal Hasan (pictured), the former Army psychiatrist who killed 13 people hand wounded over 30 in a mass shooting at Fort Hood is set to face death by firing squad

Since 1608, at least 144 civilian prisoners have been executed by shooting in America, nearly all in Utah. Only four have occurred since 1977, when the use of capital punishment resumed after a ten-year pause

Hasan walked into a Fort Hood medical readiness building in November 2009 carrying two guns and several magazines of ammunition. 

He shouted 'Allahu Akbar!' - Arabic for 'God is great!' - and opened fire on soldiers awaiting medical tests and vaccines. 

The mass shooting was the deadliest attack on a domestic military installation in US history 

Hasan was shot and paralyzed from the waist down in the resulting gunfire and was sentenced to death in 2013. 

During his trial, Hasan told jurors he had 'switched sides' in what he called America's war with Islam. 

He admitted beginning the rampage and said he wanted to stop American soldiers from being deployed to kill fellow Muslims.

Government lawyers also said Hasan did not want to go on an impending deployment to Afghanistan.

The Department of Defense called the attack an act of workplace violence, not terrorism. 

Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell announced that Hasan will be just the second person since 2010 to be put to death by a firing squad Monday, with President Trump's approval

Since 1608, at least 144 civilian prisoners have been executed by shooting in America, nearly all in Utah. 

Only four have occurred since 1977, when the use of capital punishment resumed after a ten-year pause. 

The first of those, Gary Gilmore, caused a media sensation in part because he waived his appeals and volunteered to be executed. 

When asked for his last words, Gilmore replied, 'Let's do it.'

In March of last year, Brad Sigmon, a South Carolina man who killed his ex-girlfriend’s parents with a baseball bat was executed by firing squad.