More than 17 years after the deadly 2009 Fort Hood shooting, Nidal Hasan is scheduled to face execution on December 3, 2026, but his punishment will not be carried out by lethal injection. Instead, the former Army psychiatrist is set to become the first U.S. military prisoner executed by firing squad since 1945. Hasan was convicted in 2013 of killing 13 people and wounding more than 30 others after opening fire at the Texas military installation where soldiers were waiting for medical appointments. Because his death sentence came from a military court, the process differs from a typical state execution, requiring presidential approval before the sentence can be carried out. President Donald Trump approved the execution after a recommendation from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, allowing the Army to establish a date. The decision has attracted renewed attention because it comes shortly after Tennessee’s troubled attempt to execute Christa Pike by lethal injection, an incident that intensified debate surrounding execution methods.
The firing squad also has a long history within the U.S. military, even though the method has become extremely rare. Pvt. John Bennett was the last person executed by the military, in 1961, while the last known military firing-squad execution occurred in 1945. Military law experts have emphasized that Hasan’s case remains unusual, and the Army has not publicly released every detail concerning how the execution would be conducted. His scheduled date may also not be the final word, because Hasan could still pursue additional legal challenges that might delay the execution. Eugene Fidell, a military law expert and Yale professor, has suggested that Hasan could seek relief in federal court. If that happens, the December 3 date could potentially be pushed back. For now, however, the Army plans to carry out the sentence at Fort Hood, the same installation where Hasan committed the attack, making an already extraordinary case even more historically significant.