Trump orders firing squad for gunman's execution

President Donald Trump has ordered the use of a firing squad to execute the former US Army psychiatrist who killed 13 people and wounded 32 others at Fort Hood, Texas, in a 2009 shooting spree which the gunman later described as retaliation for US wars in the Muslim world, the Pentagon said.



Putting former US Army Major Nidal Hasan to death by Army firing squad was approved by Trump at the recommendation of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and will take place on December 3rd at Fort Hood, Texas.



Death by firing squad was one of several forms of capital punishment the Trump administration recently added to permissible forms of execution for the gravest of federal crimes, along with electrocution and gas asphyxiation.



A military jury sentenced Hasan to death in August 2013, after finding him guilty of 45 counts of premeditated murder and attempted premeditated murder for opening fire with a laser-sighted handgun in a medical facility at the sprawling central Texas military base.



The shooting came weeks before Hasan, now 56, was scheduled to be deployed to Afghanistan. He was left partially paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair from being shot by police during his arrest.



Military executions are rare, and under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, a death sentence imposed by court-martial may not be carried out "until approved by the president."



If Hasan is put to death, it would mark the first military execution since 1961.