US to Livestream Fort Hood Shooter’s Planned Firing Squad Execution

GOOBJOOG NEWS | WASHINGTON: The United States plans to livestream the execution by firing squad of former Army psychiatrist Nidal Malik Hasan, who killed 13 people in a 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, in what would be an unprecedented public broadcast of a US execution.

The Pentagon confirmed the decision on Thursday, saying further details would follow. The execution is scheduled for December 3, 2026, at Fort Hood, the military base where Hasan opened fire on soldiers preparing for deployment to Afghanistan.

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has backed the decision to make the execution public, saying people should be able to watch and understand the consequences of such attacks. President Donald Trump approved the firing squad method on the Pentagon’s recommendation earlier this week.

Hasan, now 56, was convicted by a military jury in 2013 of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder. He was sentenced to death following the November 5, 2009, attack, which also left 32 people wounded.

If carried out as planned, the execution would be the first by firing squad in the US military since 1945 and the first military execution by any method since 1961. The proposed livestream would also break with decades of practice in the United States, where executions have generally been conducted privately.

The announcement has raised legal and ethical questions about broadcasting an execution. Experts cited by US media have questioned whether the military has established rules authorising a livestream and whether the public broadcast could face legal challenges. Hasan could still pursue legal action that might delay the scheduled execution.

The decision comes amid renewed debate over capital punishment in the United States following reports of a botched lethal-injection procedure in Tennessee. The Trump administration has also expanded the execution methods available for federal cases, including firing squads, electrocution and gas asphyxiation.

Additional reporting by agencies.