US to execute Fort Hood gunman Nidal Hasan by firing squad in public on December 3

Nidal Malik Hasan, convicted of killing 13 people at the Fort Hood military base in 2009, is to be executed by firing squad on December 3 at Fort Hood, and the execution will be public, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said. "He will be shot by a squad of soldiers. As it should be. We will make sure people can see it. That it is public. Because people need to understand that there are severe consequences for things like this," Hegseth said on Real America's Voice, according to Kommersant and Vedomosti. Vedomosti reported that he made the statement on October 8. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]

Outlets differed on whether the execution will be shown live. RIA Novosti reported that Hegseth later said the shooting would be broadcast live, and RBC reported that the Pentagon said it would be shown live. Vedomosti, citing CBS News and a Pentagon representative, reported a live broadcast. Kommersant wrote that the Pentagon had not yet given details of the broadcast format and, citing Associated Press, that it was considering a live broadcast. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]

According to Kommersant, it will be the first military execution in the US since 1961 and the first firing-squad execution in the US army since 1945. RIA Novosti reported that the last such execution in the army was carried out on January 31, 1945, of a private convicted of desertion in France. The US has not held a public execution since 1936. Vedomosti reported that this was the hanging of Rainey Bethea for rape in Kentucky, attended by about 20,000 people according to some reports. CBS noted that small groups, including reporters and victims' relatives, sometimes watch executions, but that executions have almost never been open to the wider public in recent US history, Vedomosti reported. [ 1 , 2 , 4 ]

Hasan, a former army psychiatrist and former major, was convicted by a military tribunal in 2013 of killing 13 people and wounding more than 30, Vedomosti reported. He admitted responsibility for the shooting and said he opened fire on fellow soldiers to protect Islamic insurgents from the US military. Vedomosti also reported that the administration of US President Donald Trump approved the plan for Hasan's execution last week. [ 3 , 4 ]

The Death Penalty Information Center had earlier told RIA Novosti that civilian courts have imposed the firing squad many times, most recently using it in 2025, and that the method has a zero failure rate, while dozens of hangings and gas executions did not go as planned. [ 1 ]