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More than 15 years after surviving several gunshot wounds during a terrorist attack at Fort Hood, retired Staff Sgt. Alonzo Lunsford is preparing to watch the man who shot him be executed.
Speaking on “America’s Newsroom,” Lunsford explained why he wants to attend the execution, which President Donald Trump recently approved to be carried out by firing squad.
“You live by the sword, you die by the sword,” Lunsford said. “And the way that he went about doing his deed was a coward’s way because we didn’t have any way to defend ourselves that day.”
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The Bernie Beck Gate at Fort Hood is pictured at sunrise on Nov. 7, 2009, in Killeen, Texas, two days after a gunman opened fire at the military installation, killing 13 people. (Nick de la Torre/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
Trump approved the use of an Army firing squad to execute Nidal Malik Hasan, a former Army major convicted of killing 13 people and wounding more than 30 others in the 2009 attack. Hasan opened fire on unarmed soldiers and civilians at Fort Hood while shouting “Allahu Akbar.”
Standing at 6-foot-9, Lunsford was shot several times, including once in the head. He believes attending the execution could bring closure to survivors and grieving families.
“It’s for two reasons. One is to give the families of the deceased a chance to close a chapter and also the survivors to close a chapter,” Lunsford said of the execution.
“And it sends a clear message that we will not stand for this activity in any of our armed services or in the United States,” he added.
Lunsford said that for him and others affected by the attack, even holidays are not the same, adding that families of the deceased will “never get a chance to cherish a Christmas, a Thanksgiving, an Easter” with their loved ones again.
“For the survivors, even though we can still do those, celebrate those holidays, we still feel for those ones that we lost that day. Me personally, the holidays will never be the same for me. But what I can do for the ones that I lost that day is to live for them and to keep fighting so that we will never have this happen again,” he added.
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Hasan remains on military death row at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. If carried out, his execution would be the first by the U.S. military since 1961. The military last used a firing squad for an execution in 1945.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell confirmed the decision on X, writing: “Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has recommended — and President Donald J. Trump has approved — death by U.S. Army firing squad for convicted terrorist Nidal Malik Hasan, the jihadist who opened fire on unarmed American soldiers at Fort Hood in 2009.”
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Parnell added: “Judgment day for Hasan has finally come.”
Soldiers salute during a remembrance ceremony marking the first anniversary of the Fort Hood shooting on Nov. 5, 2010, in Killeen, Texas. The 2009 attack killed 13 people and wounded more than 30 others. (Ben Sklar/Getty Images)
Hasan’s execution is set to take place Dec. 3, 2026, at Fort Hood, Texas, where the attack took place, according to acting Army Secretary Adam Telle.
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Digital’s Stepheny Price and Leo Briceno contributed to this report.
