Fort Hood shooter’s firing squad execution will be broadcast live
The Pentagon said on Thursday, October 8, that the firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan will be livestreamed. It would be the first US military execution in more than 65 years.
“It will be livestreamed. Details will follow,” a Defense Department official told Fox News Digital. The platform has not been announced.
The announcement followed remarks by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth a day earlier. He told the conservative outlet Real America’s Voice News that “we’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public.” Officials then clarified that this meant a livestream.
The execution is scheduled for December 3 at Fort Hood, Texas, at 1 pm. That is the same day of the week and time of day as Hasan’s 2009 attack. “He’s gonna get a firing squad of soldiers, as it should be,” Hegseth said.
Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist, killed 13 people at the Fort Hood Soldier Readiness Center on November 5, 2009. A military jury convicted him in 2013 and sentenced him to death. He has been held at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. His final legal challenge was rejected in April 2025.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said earlier this week that President Donald Trump had approved the execution. He said the plan to use an Army firing squad was recommended by Hegseth. It would be the first military execution since 1961, and the first by firing squad since 1945.
The plan has raised questions about how the death penalty is carried out in the US. Those questions grew after a botched lethal injection in Tennessee. The White House referred questions to the Pentagon.
Hasan could seek a lengthy delay by filing a habeas petition in civilian court, experts said. It is unclear whether he will. His lawyer has said the commandant of the facility told Hasan about Trump’s approval without a defence attorney present. The Army said it made every reasonable effort to contact his attorneys.
