US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on the 8th (local time that the military plans to carry out the death penalty for a mass shooter at a military base through a public execution.

According to the online media outlet Axios, Hegseth said in an interview with Real America's Voice that day regarding mass shooter Nidal Malik Hasan, "He will be executed by a firing squad composed of soldiers. As he should be."

Hegseth emphasized, "We are going to make it so people can watch. It is public. Because people need to understand there are serious consequences for this kind of behavior."

Hasan, a psychiatric military doctor holding the rank of major, opened indiscriminate fire while shouting "Allahu Akbar," which means "God is great" in Arabic, while serving at Fort Hood on November 5, 2009, killing 13 service members and civilians and injuring 32 others.

Hasan, a Muslim, was investigated for committing "homegrown terrorism" while suffering from mental stress ahead of a scheduled deployment to Afghanistan at the time. The incident was recorded as one of the worst mass shootings in US history.

It was announced on the 5th that US President Donald Trump approved the US Army's execution by firing squad for Hasan, as recommended by Secretary Hegseth.

This marks the first time the US military will carry out a death sentence against its own service member in 65 years, since US Army Private John Bennett was hanged for attempted rape and murder on April 13, 1961.

The last execution by a firing squad was carried out by a rifle squad on November 9, 1945, shortly after World War II.

In particular, if the execution of Hasan is carried out publicly as Hegseth previewed, it will be the first public execution in 90 years since a Black man, Rainey Bethea, was publicly hanged in Kentucky in 1936 for the rape of a white woman.

The Associated Press reported that the US Department of Defense will broadcast Hasan's execution in real time.

However, the specific method of how it will be broadcast live was not disclosed.

It remains unclear whether it means opening the execution site to general observers, broadcasting it via internet streaming or television, or permitting viewing only to specific personnel.

Previously, President Trump reauthorized the use of pentobarbital, a lethal injection drug adopted during his first term.

Executions using this drug were abolished by the previous administration of Joe Biden due to criticisms that it causes pulmonary edema and extreme pain, but President Trump reapproved it in April.

Recently, death row inmate Christa Pike, 50, became a topic of discussion in a Tennessee prison after surviving two doses of the drug.
 
(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)