US President Donald Trump has approved the execution by firing squad of Nidal Hassan, convicted of killing 13 people at the 2009 Fort Hood military base in Texas. The recommendation was made by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said.
“Hassan's day of reckoning has finally arrived”, Parnell wrote. He said the Secretary of the Army would determine the time and place of the execution. No specific date has been announced yet.
The Fort Hood Attack
On November 5, 2009, Hassan, who was a major and an Army psychiatrist at the time, opened fire at a military training center at Fort Hood. The shooting killed 13 people and wounded 32. It was the deadliest attack on a U.S. military base in the United States.
In August 2013, a military court found Hassan guilty of 13 counts of first-degree murder and 32 counts of attempted first-degree murder. On August 28 of that year, the court sentenced him to death.
The sentence may not be carried out soon
Hassan is being held at the military prison in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Trump's approval sets the execution process in motion, but does not mean an immediate execution. According to the Associated Press, the defense may seek a retrial in federal court, which could delay the execution for years.
If carried out, the execution would be the first of a U.S. military member since 1961. The last soldier to be executed was Private John Bennett, who was hanged at Fort Leavenworth in April 1961.
Sources: apnews.com, cbsnews.com, army.mil