Politics'Judgement Day Has Finally Come,' Pentagon Says as Donald Trump Approves Firing Squad Execution for Fort Hood Killer at Pete Hegseth's Recommendation
Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump approved the execution of the Fort Hood killer.
Oct. 6 2026, Published 3:27 p.m. ET
President Donald Trump has approved the firing squad execution of Fort Hood killer Nidal Hasan at Pete Hegseth's recommendation.
“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,” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell announced in an X post.
Pentagon Officials Praise 'Justice'
Pete Hegseth called the execution 'justice.'
Hasan killed 12 U.S. military service members and one civilian, and injured 32 others at a 2009 mass shooting at the Texas military base. Parnell noted that Hasan shouted "Allahu Akbar" as he carried out the attack.
"The Secretary of the Army will set the time and place of the execution. Judgement day for Hasan has finally come," Parnell added in his post.
"Justice," Hegseth added in his own post.
Fort Hood Killer Nidal Hasan Has Been on Death Row for 13 Years
Fort Hood killer Nidal Hasan killed 14 military service members and one civilian.
Hasan was sentenced to death by a military court in 2013. Should his execution go through, he will be the first U.S. military member executed since 1961.
Hasan served as an Army major and psychiatrist before opening fire on troops waiting to receive immunizations at Fort Hood. He told a military judge that his attack was motivated by “the leadership of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the Taliban.”
Hasan cheered the Biden administration bringing troops out of Afghanistan in 2021, writing to the Taliban, "We Have Won!!!”
"Congratulations on your victory over those who hate for the Laws of All-Mighty God to be supreme on the land,” he added.
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The Army Introduced a Plan to Execute Military Death Row Inmates
The executions of three remaining military death row inmates are awaiting Donald Trump's approval.
Since February, the Army has been coordinating with the Federal Bureau of Prisons to carry out the executions of Hasan and three other former military members on death row.
The other inmates are Ronald Gray, convicted in 1988 on murder and rape charges at North Carolina's Fort Bragg; Timothy Hennis, convicted in 2010 on a triple murder committed in North Carolina in 1985; and Hasan Akbar, sentenced to death in 2005 for the murder of two officers at Camp Pennsylvania in Kuwait.
Under "Operation Resolute Justice," the military would transfer the prisoners to the federal execution facility in Terre Haute, Ind., if Trump approves of their executions.
Executions Soar Under Donald Trump
Donald Trump has approved the executions of 75 inmates in his second term.
Executions have skyrocketed under Trump, after the 80-year-old president signed an executive order on his first day in office reviving capital punishment. Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden did not approve any executions during their presidencies.
During Trump's second term, there have been 75 executions — not including Christa Pike, who made headlines for surviving two lethal injections in early October.
