Paralysed Fort Hood Killer Nidal Hasan Faces December Firing Squad in a Wheelchair

Nidal Hasan, the paralysed former Army psychiatrist who killed 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009, is scheduled to face a firing squad in his wheelchair at the same Texas base on 3 December, the first US military execution in 65 years.

Acting Army Secretary Adam Telle confirmed the date on Tuesday, setting the execution for 1pm local time at the post where Hasan opened fire on soldiers preparing to deploy. The decision moves a long-stalled sentence towards execution.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell announced late on Monday that President Donald Trump had approved a recommendation from Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to carry out the sentence by Army firing squad. 'Judgement day for Hasan has finally come,' Parnell wrote.

Why a Firing Squad, Not Injection

Army rules leave the execution method to the Secretary of the Army, and the Pentagon has not explained why it reached for rifles instead. Hegseth recommended the firing squad, Trump signed off, and no official rationale followed. A 2019 revision to Army Regulation 190-55 removed lethal injection from the regulation.

The choice places Hasan inside a wider shift. Firing squads returned to US executions in 2025 after South Carolina put Brad Sigmon to death in March, the first such execution anywhere in the country since Utah executed Ronnie Lee Gardner in 2010. Three more followed as states struggled to source lethal injection drugs.

Six Decades Since the Last Execution

The US military has not executed anyone since 1961, when a soldier convicted of rape and attempted murder was hanged at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. A firing squad has not been used by the military since the execution of deserter Private Eddie Slovik in 1945.

Hasan is one of four men on the military's death row at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. He fired 146 rounds during the 2009 attack, killing 13 and wounding more than 30 before a responding officer shot him in the back.

A Wheelchair and a Fight for Recognition

Those wounds left Hasan paralysed from the chest down and reliant on a wheelchair, the same chair he used throughout his 2013 court-martial. He represented himself, called no witnesses and gave no testimony, and was sentenced to death by a jury of his fellow officers.

The attack also exposed a long fight over recognition. The Defense Department first classified the shooting as workplace violence rather than terrorism, blocking survivors from Purple Hearts for years. Military victims received Purple Hearts and the family of civilian victim Michael Cahill received a Defense of Freedom Medal at a 2015 ceremony at Fort Hood.

December Date Still Faces Appeals

December is not guaranteed. An analysis published in May in the military journal Army Lawyer noted that Hasan could file a habeas corpus petition in the civilian federal courts, a move capable of pausing the execution for years. The same analysis said any approved execution must fall between 60 and 150 days of the president's decision.

For the families of the 13 killed, a sentence handed down in 2013 now carries a firm date and an unusual method. Whether the execution proceeds on 3 December rests on a legal process that is still unfolding.