Army sets date for Fort Hood mass shooter Nidal Hasan to face firing squad
In this photo released by the Bell County Sheriff’s Office, U.S. Maj. Nidal Hasan, the Army psychiatrist who is charged with murder in the Fort Hood shootings, is seen in a booking photo after being moved to the Bell County Jail on April 9, 2010 in Belton, Texas. Hasan was transferred early April 9, 2010 from Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio to Bell County Jail in Belton, Texas. (Handout/Getty Images)
Nidal Hasan, who was sentenced to death for the 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, will be executed by firing squad on Dec. 3, according to a memo from the acting Army secretary.
The execution, the first carried out by the U.S. military in more than 60 years, is scheduled for 1 p.m. CT, according to the memo issued Tuesday by acting Army Secretary Adam Telle.
The Pentagon announced Monday that Hasan would be executed by firing squad after President Donald Trump approved the decision Friday.
Under the military’s execution process for prisoners on death row, the Army secretary initiates the proceedings, which then require approval from the defense secretary and eventually the president.
Under Army policy, executions must happen within 150 days of the president approving it, but no sooner than 60 days.
The military has not executed a service member since 1961, when Pvt. John Bennett was put to death after being convicted of the rape and attempted murder of an 11-year-old girl in Austria.
On Nov. 5, 2009, Hasan, then an Army psychiatrist, opened fire at the Soldier Readiness Processing Center at the Fort Hood military base, killing 12 soldiers and one civilian before he was shot, severely wounded and arrested.
Hasan was convicted of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder and sentenced to death in 2013. He was sent to a military detention center at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas.
He is one of four death row inmates in the Army justice system.
The announcement of his execution comes after ABC News reported in June that the Army had been planning military executions, according to internal documents and officials familiar with the matter.
Army regulation dictates that at least two media outlets should be selected to witness the execution.
Elder Chavez Carranza, seen here in this undated family photo, said he was stopped by a police officer while on his way to buy a torta, questioned about his identification and immigration status, and later taken into ICE custody. (Maryuri Chavez Carranza)
(WASHINGTON) — Elder Chavez Carranza believed his last year of high school would consist of preparations for his graduation, prom and planning for his future.
Instead, the 18-year-old has spent more than 200 days in an immigration detention center in Louisiana, hundreds of miles from his home in Albertville, Alabama.
Chavez Carranza who is from Copan, Honduras, entered the U.S. when he was 14 and was later granted Special Immigrant Juvenile classification when he was a minor, a designation for certain immigrant children who have been abused, abandoned or neglected that provides humanitarian protection, his lawyer said.
According to immigration lawyers, the primary benefit of SIJS is that it provides eligible youth under 21 a pathway to obtain a green card. Historically, immigration authorities exercised prosecutorial discretion to avoid arresting or deporting individuals with pending or approved SIJS applications.
The 18-year-old said he was on his way to buy food when a police officer stopped him and began asking about his identification and immigration papers. After explaining to the officer that he did not have documents with him, he said the officer contacted immigration authorities.
“I was going to buy a torta when the officer stopped me. He first asked me for my ID and whether I had papers. I told him, ‘no.’ Then he called ICE. They asked me what kind of papers I had, and I told them I had status. But they didn’t even give me time to show them my papers. They just took me away,” Chavez Carranza told ABC News from detention.
Dalaney Mecham, Chavez Carranza’s immigration attorney, said he had already been granted SIJ classification by USCIS but that a separate deferred-action application, which could allow him to remain in the U.S while pursuing the next steps in his immigration case, has not been resolved.
“The federal government has already decided that he deserves protection; Congress decided that children like him deserve protection; and USCIS has already looked at his application and approved it,” Mecham said. “The only thing standing between him and that protection while he waits for his lawful process to continue is the very same government that created this pathway.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security told ABC News that “Chavez-Carranza will remain in ICE custody pending his immigration proceedings.”
“He will receive full due process,” DHS added. “Being in detention is a choice. We encourage all illegal aliens to take control of their departure with the CBP Home App.”
For the past nine months, Chavez Carranza has been at the Winn Correctional Center in Louisiana, separated from his family, friends and school.
His sister, Maryuri Chavez Carranza, who is his legal guardian, says he calls her every day.
“He tells me, ‘I really miss my teachers. I miss my friends. I miss everything about school,'” Maryuri told ABC News.
Immigration advocate Angela Del Valle says she became involved in Chavez Carranza’s case after her husband, Carlos, was detained at the same facility and met the 18-year-old there.
Del Valle says she began communicating with his sister and helping the family navigate the detention process. She now speaks with Chavez Carranza regularly and is among the advocates pushing for his release.
“Above all, we want him to know that he’s not forgotten,” Del Valle said. “We also want the community there at Winn to know that he’s cared for, that he’s not forgotten.”
Advocates and lawmakers have raised concerns about the conditions of the facility where Chavez Carranza is detained. In less than two months, two detainees have died at Winn. DHS has said in statements that the deaths are under investigation and has defended its treatment of detainees in detention centers.
The 18-year -old is one of thousands of people who have been in prolonged detention after being detained by federal immigration authorities, ABC News has reported.
Chavez Carranza said that when he first arrived at Winn, he did not feel comfortable. Over time, he said he began forming friendships with other detainees, including Carlos, who he said was one of the first people he met.
“I do feel protected with them,” he said. “They are older people, and they always look out for me.”
In detention, the 18-year-old works at the facility unloading trucks. He said that for now, he is focused on finding the strength to get through each day in detention.
“What I ask for most right now, while I’m here, is for God to give me strength so I can keep enduring this confinement. It’s very difficult here,” he said.
A police line is put up in front of Apalachee High School after a school shooting took place on September 4, 2024 in Winder, Georgia. (Megan Varner/Getty Images)
(WINDER, Ga.) — A teenage boy accused of carrying out a mass shooting at his Georgia high school pleaded guilty Friday to all 55 counts against him, including murder and aggravated assault.
Colt Gray, 16, agreed to a non-negotiated guilty plea, the judge said, meaning there is no plea deal; the state will present its argument for an appropriate sentence, and the defense will do the same.
The judge said the minimum sentence is life with parole and the maximum is a life sentence without parole.
Gray was 14 years old in September 2024 when he opened fire at Apalachee High School, killing two students and two teachers and injuring several others.
Breanna Schermerhorn, whose son, 14-year-old Mason Schermerhorn, was killed, said in a victim impact statement Friday, “Mason was so much more than a victim.” “Mason was kind, compassionate, funny and fiercely protective of others,” she said. “As a child with exceptional needs, he understood what it felt like to struggle and be overlooked by others. Instead of becoming bitter, he became an advocate.”
“He made people that were typically unseen feel seen, accepted and safe,” she said.
“I had no doubt in my mind if Colt had actually attended school as he should have, that Mason would have befriended him,” Breanna Schermerhorn said.
She said Gray “knew that pulling that trigger was wrong, he knew that every choice he made that day would forever alter countless lives.”
One of Mason Schermerhorn’s sisters, Alanna Schermerhorn Wallace, said through tears that she lost the life she knew and her sense of safety on the day her brother was killed. She said she’s always scanning for exits and monitoring the people around her and is triggered by loud noises and unexpected sounds.
Another sister, Lilianah Ahmed, said through tears, “From a very young age, Mason wanted to be a family man. He wanted to have a wife, kids. He wanted to go to school and pursue a career. … All these different parts of himself he didn’t get to explore because of Colt.”
“My brother died alone and scared. [Gray] was the last person to see Mason alive, and he took him from us,” Ahmed said.
She also called her brother “the success story that Colt could have been.”
Shayna Aspinwall, whose husband, Richard Aspinwall, was killed, described him as a beloved dad, teacher and coach.
“Every holiday, birthday, anniversary and ordinary day is a reminder of what has been stolen from us,” she said. “… Now our daughters, who were 5 and 2 at the time, must grow up without their father. They will miss his guidance, his encouragement, his hugs, and all the milestones he should have been here to witness.”
Shayna Aspinwall asked the judge to not sentence Gray to life with the chance for parole, saying the parole hearings would be “continued torture” for her family.
Ismael Angulo, whose brother, 14-year-old Christian Angulo, was killed, also asked the judge to sentence Gray to life without the possibility of parole, as he described “every day as a nightmare.”
“The defendant’s family will still get to see their son, talk to him and know he is breathing. My mother, my father don’t get that privilege,” he said. “… There is no fairness in that reality. Christian was a beautiful, innocent soul who was robbed of his dreams.”
Gray was accused of carrying out the shooting with a rifle his father, Colin Gray, gifted him as a Christmas present, officials said. This March, Colin Gray was convicted of charges including second-degree murder and manslaughter, becoming the first parent in the U.S. convicted of murder due to the alleged acts of their child.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
U.S. Coast Guard dive team searches for clues in the disappearance of Lynette Hooker in the Bahamas, June 4, 2026. (ABC News)
(NEW YORK) — The Coast Guard has taken custody of the Hookers’ dinghy amid the new search for Lynette Hooker, an American woman who went overboard in the Bahamas and vanished two months ago.
The Coast Guard is using divers, underwater drones and a K9 as it explores new areas not previously searched.
This week’s search comes after forensic evidence found on electronic devices belonging to Lynette Hooker’s husband, Brian Hooker, led investigators to new areas of interest, U.S. officials said. One U.S. official told ABC News that what Brian Hooker told investigators does not match the GPS data recovered from his devices.
Lynette Hooker went missing on the evening of April 4. Brian Hooker told authorities that after the couple departed Hope Town on their dinghy to head to their yacht, bad weather caused her to go overboard.
Brian Hooker was arrested on April 8 and questioned by police. He was released on April 13 without charges.
Lynette Hooker’s daughter and Brian Hooker’s stepdaughter, Karli Aylesworth, told ABC News she doubts Brian Hooker’s story and said she’s not spoken with him since the day after her mother went missing.
Aylesworth said this week she’s hopeful the new search points investigators in the right direction.
“She has to be somewhere, so all the help that we could get, it’s greatly appreciated,” she said.
Aylesworth said if she could speak to her mother now, she’d tell her, “I just hope you’re still out there. I have doubts with how long it’s been, but I love you and I hope I can see you again.”
