Nidal Hasan [Bell County Sheriff's Office/Reuters-Yonhap]
Nidal Hasan [Bell County Sheriff's Office/Reuters-Yonhap]

President Donald Trump has approved a firing squad execution for the Army psychiatrist who killed 13 people in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting in Texas.

The gunman, Nidal Malik Hasan, held the rank of Army major at the time of the attack, according to CNN. It would be the first firing squad execution carried out by the US military since World War II, Yonhap said.

Sean Parnell, the chief spokesperson for the US Department of Defense, said Monday (local time) on X, formerly Twitter, that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had recommended the Army carry out a firing squad execution of "jihadist Hasan, who opened fire on unarmed American soldiers at Fort Hood in 2009," adding that Trump had approved the recommendation.

On Nov. 5, 2009, Hasan — then an Army major serving as a psychiatrist at Fort Hood — shouted "Allahu Akbar," Arabic for "God is great," before opening fire indiscriminately, killing 13 soldiers and civilians and wounding 32 others.

Hasan, a Muslim, was found to have carried out the "homegrown terror" attack while under stress ahead of a scheduled deployment to Afghanistan.

The shooting stands as one of the deadliest mass shootings on a US military base in American history.

Parnell said the Army secretary would set the time and place for the execution, adding, "Judgment day has finally come for Hasan."

Firing squad executions are rare in the United States, the Washington Post reported Tuesday.

The military execution would be the first in 65 years — the last was the April 1, 1961 hanging of Army Private John Bennett for rape and attempted murder. The last firing squad execution carried out by the US military is believed to have taken place on Nov. 9, 1945.

Trump has long supported capital punishment. During his first term, he revived the federal death penalty after a 16-year hiatus and oversaw the execution of 13 death row inmates in the final days of his administration.

Trump administration: Previous administration 'failed to protect the American people'

US President Donald Trump [Getty Images]
US President Donald Trump [Getty Images]

Last April, the Trump administration moved to allow firing squads as a method of federal execution.

The Justice Department said in a report at the time that difficulties in obtaining lethal injection drugs had prompted it to add firing squads, the electric chair and nitrogen gas asphyxiation as alternative execution methods, according to Reuters.

Lethal injection has long been the most common form of execution in the United States, and the move was intended to expand practical options in anticipation of continued drug supply shortages.

Then-Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement that "the previous administration," referring to the Biden administration, "failed to fulfill its duty to protect the American people by refusing to impose the ultimate punishment on the most dangerous criminals, including terrorists, child killers and cop killers."

The Biden administration, which took office after Trump's first term, ordered a federal moratorium on executions in 2021 and, in the final days of its tenure, announced last-minute commutations for 37 of the 40 federal inmates on death row.

After Trump returned to power, the Justice Department lifted the moratorium.


yul@heraldcorp.com