Fort Hood shooter to face public execution by firing squad: US defense secretary

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday that the former Army major convicted of the 2009 Fort Hood shooting will be publicly executed by firing squad on Dec. 3.

Hegseth said Nidal Hasan, who was sentenced to death for killing 13 people and wounding 32 others, will be executed by soldiers with rifles at Fort Hood, Texas.

"No brainer, execution by firing squad. Army major betrays his country. Radical Islamist kills a bunch of Americans at Fort Hood," Hegseth said in an interview with Real America's Voice when asked about the decision.

"Of course, we're going to do it at Fort Hood. Going to do it on a Thursday. We're going to do it at 1 o'clock, which is when he did it, and it's going to be soldiers with rifles executing the firing squad," he said.

Hegseth said the US military has not carried out such an execution since World War II.

The Pentagon announced Monday that President Donald Trump had approved Hegseth's recommendation to execute Hasan by firing squad, leaving the secretary of the Army to determine the time and place.

The Army had not previously announced a date or location.

Hasan, a former US Army psychiatrist, opened fire at Fort Hood on Nov. 5, 2009, killing 13 people and wounding 32 others.

He was convicted in 2013 of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder and sentenced to death.

He has since been held at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.