Fort Hood Shooter Execution To Be Livestreamed

The execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan, sentenced to death for killing 13 people, will be livestreamed for public viewing, a War Department official has confirmed ^[1]. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth stated the execution by firing squad will be a public event, with details on the livestream to follow [1, 3].

Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist, will face a firing squad of soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas, at 1pm on Thursday, 3 December [3, 4]. This marks the first military execution in the US since 1961, and the first military firing-squad execution since 1945 [1, 5, 7]. President Donald Trump approved the execution this week, following a recommendation from Hegseth [3, 5].

Hegseth, speaking on Real America's Voice, stressed the importance of making the execution public, stating, "people need to understand there's serious consequences for these types of things" [3, 5]. He also described the attack as a "radical Islamist attack in uniform inside the ranks," justifying the use of a firing squad by soldiers [3, 4].

Hasan opened fire at a medical processing centre at Fort Hood on 5 November 2009, killing 13 people and wounding dozens more [3, 5]. He admitted during his court-martial in 2013 that he acted to prevent American soldiers from deploying to Afghanistan to kill fellow Muslims, ahead of his own impending deployment [3, 4]. He was subsequently sentenced to death [3, 7].

The US military has not put anyone to death since Army Pvt. John Bennett was hanged in 1961 ^[1]. The last military firing-squad execution occurred in 1945, when Pvt. Eddie Slovik was shot for desertion during World War II. The Trump administration has sought to bring back firing squads to expedite capital punishment cases [3, 4].

Hegseth dismissed questions about any final requests from Hasan, stating, "Don't care. We'll see him on December 3" ^[3]. The execution is scheduled for the same day of the week and time that Hasan carried out his massacre ^[4]. The story was first reported by TMZ and Sky News.