Por Renan Filho · 2026-11-05**Lead**
Seventeen years after the deadliest mass shooting on an American military installation, the families of the 13 people killed at Fort Hood, Texas, are facing a new and deeply personal reckoning: the scheduled execution of the gunman, former U.S. Army Major Nidal Hasan. The convicted perpetrator, who opened fire on unarmed soldiers and civilians at the Soldier Readiness Processing Center on November 5, 2009, is currently on federal death row at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. While the exact date of his execution remains pending final legal appeals and a presidential warrant, the prospect of Hasan's death has reopened old wounds and sparked a painful debate among those he harmed about what justice truly means.
**Contexto**
On that autumn afternoon, Hasan, a 39-year-old Army psychiatrist of Palestinian descent, entered the deployment processing center armed with two handguns and began a methodical, 10-minute rampage. He killed 12 soldiers and one civilian, and wounded more than 30 others. The attack was initially described by some officials as a case of workplace violence, but an investigation by the Senate Homeland Security Committee later concluded that Hasan had been in communication with Anwar al-Awlaki, a senior al-Qaeda operative, and that the shooting was an act of jihadist terrorism. Despite that finding, the Department of Defense officially classified the massacre as a case of workplace violence, a designation that has infuriated many victims' families and continues to affect their eligibility for certain benefits and recognition.
Hasan was convicted in 2013 on 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder. A military jury sentenced him to death, making him one of the few U.S. service members on federal death row. Since then, his case has moved slowly through the military appellate system. In 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces upheld his conviction and sentence, and the Supreme Court declined to hear his final appeal earlier this year. The next step requires the Secretary of the Army to set an execution date and the President to sign a warrant of execution. Legal experts expect that process to move forward in the coming months, though no official timeline has been announced.
**Analise**
The looming execution has forced families to confront a question that has no easy answer: Will Hasan's death bring closure? For some, the answer is a definitive yes. They see the execution as the final chapter in a long legal battle and a necessary act of accountability for a man who showed no remorse during his trial, where he represented himself and offered no defense. For others, the execution feels hollow. They argue that Hasan's death will not restore their loved ones, nor will it address the systemic failures they believe allowed the attack to happen — including intelligence warnings that were ignored and the controversial decision to classify the shooting as workplace violence rather than terrorism.
This divide reflects a broader national conversation about the death penalty, military justice, and the government's handling of domestic terrorism. The Fort Hood case remains a stark example of how the U.S. military struggles to balance security, religious freedom, and the prevention of radicalization within its ranks. Hasan's execution, if carried out, would be the first military execution in decades. The last service member executed by the U.S. military was Army Private John A. Bennett, who was hanged in 1961 for rape and attempted murder. The rarity of the event underscores the gravity of the moment and the weight it carries for the families, the Army, and the nation.
**Fontes**
This report is based on public court records from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, official statements from the Department of Defense and the U.S. Army, and archived reporting from the Associated Press, The New York Times, and the Fort Hood Sentinel. Testimony and statements from victims' families have been drawn from public hearings and interviews published by The Texas Tribune and the Austin American-Statesman.