Nidal Hasan is the former Army psychiatrist who killed 13 people and wounded 32 others when he opened fire at Fort Hood, Texas, back in 2009. He was sentenced to death in 2013 and has been sitting on military death row ever since. Now the Pentagon says his execution is going to be a public event.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday that Hasan will be executed by firing squad at Fort Hood on Thursday, December 3, at 1 p.m. CT, and that the whole thing will be livestreamed. “We’re gonna make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public, because people need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things,” Hegseth said. A Pentagon official confirmed the livestream plan to Reuters on Thursday.
Hegseth said they picked a Thursday at 1 p.m. on purpose, the same day and time Hasan carried out the 2009 shooting, calling it a no-brainer. President Trump signed off on the death sentence last week, and Hegseth recommended the firing squad over other methods earlier this week. If it goes through, Hasan becomes the first US service member executed since 1961 and the first put down by a military firing squad since 1945. The Death Penalty Information Center says it has no record of any government ever livestreaming an execution.
Not everyone is on board with the spectacle. Keely Vanacker, whose father Michael Cahill was killed in the attack, said she is staying off social media so she does not have to see Hasan’s face as the date approaches. “He’s already dead to me,” she said.
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