On November 5, 2009, an Army psychiatrist named Nidal Malik Hasan took a pistol fitted with a laser sight, entered an Army processing center on Fort Hood in Texas, and proceeded to slaughter his fellow unarmed and defenseless soldiers as they prepared for a deployment.
By the time the Army major was stopped, he had killed some thirteen fellow servicemen and wounded more than thirty others. The packed, confined quarters helped Hasan in his deadly attack.
...The shooting began about 1:30 Central Time at Hood’s Soldier Family Readiness Center where Cone said soldiers from multiple units were crowded into the center for a scheduled weekly “make up time” for medical and dental appointments.
Casualties were high due to the enclosed location, but would have been much worse were it not for the training and quick reaction of the soldiers, Cone said, adding that he was on the scene quickly after the shooting began.
“Suffice it to say…the American soldier did a great job,” he said.
From the reports of eyewitnesses, he said, the soldiers – “many of them combat lifesavers” -- reacted instantaneously, ripping off parts of their own clothing to treat the wounded.
“I credit the first responders,” he said. “God bless these soldiers and Department of Army civilians. As horrible as this was, it could have been much worse.”
...The suspect is believed to have used two handguns in the shooting, one a semiautomatic, Cone said. And in responding to a question, “As a matter of practice, we do not carry weapons on Fort Hood,” he said. “This is our home.”
The only saving grace was that Hasan had attacked a room full of combat veterans getting ready to head back out.
Once the initial shock of the attack passed, battle-tested Army members swung into action, either in concert against their attacker or to immediately attend to offering life-saving aid to wounded comrades.
The courage displayed that black day was off the charts.
...Army Reserve Captain John Gaffaney tried to stop Hasan by charging him, but was mortally wounded before reaching him.[19] Civilian physician assistant Michael Cahill also tried to charge Hasan with a chair, but was shot and killed.[20] Army Reserve Specialist Logan Burnett tried to stop Hasan by throwing a folding table at him, but he was shot in the left hip, fell down, and crawled to a nearby cubicle.[21]
...Base civilian police Sergeant Kimberly Munley, who had rushed to the scene in her patrol car, encountered Hasan in the area outside the Soldier Readiness Processing Center.[25] Hasan fired at Munley, who exchanged shots with him using her 9mm M9 pistol. Munley's hand was hit by shrapnel when one of Hasan's bullets struck a nearby rain gutter, and then two bullets struck Munley: the first bullet hit her thigh, and the second hit her knee.[12][22] As she began to fall from the first bullet, the second bullet struck her femur, shattering it and knocking her to the ground.[12][22] Hasan walked up to Munley and kicked her pistol out of reach.[26]
As the shooting continued outside, nurses and medics entered the building. An unidentified soldier secured the south double doors with his ACU belt and rushed to help the wounded.[27] According to the responding nurses, there was so much blood covering the floor inside the building that they were unable to maintain balance, and had difficulty reaching the wounded to help them.[28]
In the area outside the building, Hasan continued to shoot at fleeing soldiers. Herman Toro, Director of the Soldier Readiness Processing Site, arrived at this time. Hasan had gone around the building and was out of sight, but still shooting. Toro and another site worker rushed to assist Lieutenant Colonel Juanita Warman, who was down on the ground north of the medical building. They both took her by the arms and tried to carry her to safety when Hasan returned and aimed his red laser across Toro's chest, but did not fire. Toro took cover behind an electrical box and saw civilian police Sergeant Mark Todd arrive and shout commands at Hasan to surrender.[22] Todd said: "Then he turned and fired a couple of rounds at me. I didn't hear him say a word, he just turned and fired."[29] The two exchanged shots, Hasan emptying his pistol in the process. He stopped, turned, and reached into his pocket for a new magazine before being felled by five shots from Todd.[3][30]
Todd then ran over to Hasan, kicked the pistol out of his hand, and put handcuffs on him as he fell unconscious.[31] LTC Tom Eberhart, Deputy Director of Human Resources, Fort Hood, arrived and entered the Medical Building to help. He had to step over bodies to enter the building's north entrance. He assisted another soldier in performing CPR on one of the wounded soldiers at the building's waiting area. Folding chairs were scattered all around. He noticed a soldier outside the south doors of the building and went to help, removing the belt from the door. The downed soldier was Staff Sergeant Alonzo Lunsford, a medical assistant from the building. He had two wounds in the abdomen and a wound to the scalp. He was unconscious and LTC Eberhart went back into the building to retrieve a folding table. Other soldiers assisted in getting SSG Lunsford onto the table and around the building to the triage area.[32]
Hasan survived the wounds received at the hands of Sgt Todd's pistol, but remains paralyzed from the waist down.
Within days of the shooting, media reports revealed that Hasan had 'been on their radar.' The major had been corresponding via email with Yemeni-based terrorist Imam Anwar al-Awlaki - notable for being President Obama's first drone strike assassination of a US citizen - and that his military colleagues had been concerned and warned of his increasing radicalization for several years preceding the murders.
The Pentagon further enraged feelings when they took what was an obvious act of domestic terrorism and called it 'workplace violence.'
...Hasan told a military mental health panel that the shooting was justified because the victims were “going against the Islamic Empire,” according to the New York Times in 2014. However, the Army controversially decided not to pursue terrorism charges at the time, the Pentagon instead designating the shooting as “workplace violence.”
...Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano stated "we object to—and do not believe—that anti-Muslim sentiment should emanate from this ... This was an individual who does not, obviously, represent the Muslim faith."[160] Chief of Staff Gen. George W. Casey, Jr. said "I'm concerned that this increased speculation could cause a backlash against some of our Muslim soldiers ... Our diversity, not only in our Army, but in our country, is a strength. And as horrific as this tragedy was, if our diversity becomes a casualty, I think that's worse."[1
Hasan was arraigned in 2011 at a military court, charged with thirteen counts of premeditated murder and thirty-two counts of attempted murder (a charge was not filed for the death of a three-month-old fetus lost with its mother), found guilty on all counts at his 2013 court-martial, and sentenced to death.
In April, the jihadi lost his final death sentence appeal on the civilian side of the house.
Fort Hood killer Nidal Hasan loses final appeal of death sentence
Nidal Hasan, the one-time Army psychiatrist who gunned down 13 people at Fort Hood (now Fort Cavazos) in 2009, is out of appeals.
The U.S. Supreme Court this week denied Hasan’s final appeal, setting the stage for President Donald Trump to sign a death warrant and for an execution date to be set. The high court denied a defense writ of certiorari, which is essentially a request that the justices review the case.
The court’s action doesn’t mean Hasan’s death is imminent, however. Years may pass before he is strapped to a gurney in an execution chamber at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind., where all federal death sentences have been carried out since 1995.
“Nothing in the death penalty litigation world moves quickly,” said retired Army Col. Michael Mulligan, the chief prosecutor in Hasan’s monthlong court-martial in 2013. “And given its nature, it shouldn’t. How soon Hasan moves toward execution will depend on Hasan. If he chooses not to further appeal, it could be within the year.
“Otherwise, it could still be a while,” he added. “But every appellate court that has looked at this has rejected his arguments.”
Hasan, now 54, has been on death row at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
It had been almost two years since the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces upheld the long-ago death sentence.
A top military court delivered a unanimous decision to uphold the death penalty conviction of ex-Army Maj. Nidal Hasan, who killed 13 people and wounded dozens of others at then-Fort Hood, Texas.
On Nov. 5, 2009, Hasan walked into a readiness processing center and opened fire with a semi-automatic handgun. Thirteen people, including a pregnant soldier, died in the barrage. At his court-martial, Hasan admitted to the shooting, and he was sentenced to death. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces rejected Hasan’s motion to reverse his death sentence after not finding enough merits to his arguments to grant his motion.
“After carefully considering his raised issues and the record, we conclude that Appellant is not entitled to any relief. We therefore affirm the judgment of the lower court,” the court’s opinion read. The court then went on to reject each of his arguments.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth will be petitioning the President to sign Hasan's death warrant.
The Department of War will ask President Donald Trump for final approval to execute the Fort Hood shooter, Nidal Hasan, a DOW official told the Daily Caller News Foundation exclusively.
The execution, if approved by Trump, would be the first carried out by the military since 1961. Hasan, a former Army Major and psychiatrist turned radical Islamic terrorist, killed 13 people and wounded 32 others during his notorious rampage on the Army base in 2009.
“I am 100 percent committed to ensuring the death penalty is carried out for Nidal Hasan,” Hegseth exclusively told the DCNF. “This savage terrorist deserves the harshest lawful punishment for his 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood. The victims and survivors deserve justice without delays.”
The department is putting the package together now.
...Under the Army’s regulations, the Army staff will put forward the recommendation for Hasan’s execution. The packet will then be passed to the Army secretary, then the Secretary of War to give “additional recommendation to the President,” the DOW official told DCNF.
In 2009, Nidal Malik Hasan killed 13 American service members and injured 32 others in what became known as the Fort Hood shooting. It was one of the deadliest attacks on U.S. military personnel on American soil. Hasan, a U.S. Army Major and physician of Palestinian descent, was… pic.twitter.com/MeQacF47vS
— Brother Rachid الأخ رشيد (@BrotherRasheed) August 6, 2025
...Hasan, a U.S. Army Major and physician of Palestinian descent, was born and raised in the United States. According to his family, he became increasingly religious and developed strong anti-American views.
He attended the Dar Al-Hijrah mosque in Virginia, where Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, a known Al-Qaeda member, used to preach. Al-Awlaki himself was born in the U.S. but was notorious for his anti-American and pro-Palestinian rhetoric.
With the current rise in antisemitism, anti-American sentiment, and pro-Hamas propaganda, it is likely that we will see more incidents like this in the future. America must take decisive action now to prevent further attacks.
Jihadi traitor and cowardly, craven murderer Nidal Hasan's fate will soon be in President Trump's hands.
So be it.
Our prayers go out to the families of Michael Grant Cahill, 62, of Cameron, Texas; Maj. Libardo Eduardo Caraveo, 52, of Woodbridge, Va.; Staff Sgt. Justin M. DeCrow, 32, of Evans, Ga.; Capt. John Gaffaney, 56, of San Diego, Calif.; Spc. Frederick Greene, 29, of Mountain City, Tenn.; Spc. Jason Dean Hunt, 22, of Frederick, Okla., Sgt. Amy Krueger, 29, of Kiel, Wis.; Pfc. Aaron Thomas Nemelka, 19, of West Jordan, Utah; Pfc. Michael Pearson, 22, of Bolingbrook, Ill.; Capt. Russell Seager, 51, of Racine, Wis.; Pvt. Francheska Velez, 21, and her 3-month-old baby in the womb of Chicago; Lt. Col. Juanita Warman, 55, of Havre de Grace, Md.; and Pfc. Kham Xiong, 23, of St. Paul, Minn.
May the memories of your precious loved ones always be a blessing.
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