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At Fort Hood in 2009, Nidal Hasan shot and killed 13 unarmed soldiers and injured another 32. The killings on 5 November 2009 were the deadliest ever non-combat attack on an American military base. In addition to the 13 troops who died, 32 others were injured in the attack.
Recently, Hasan has been sentenced to military execution by firing squad, which will be livestreamed to the public on December 3rd, 2026 at Fort Hood. A military firing squad execution hasn’t been carried out since 1945, and a military execution hasn’t happened since 1961. There has been a great amount of debate around whether the method of execution is justified and deserved. We interviewed students and teachers at Avonworth to gather opinions and ideas about this controversy.
Multiple students believe that the execution is fair, such as Linnea Zmuda (junior), Jackson Boggess (freshman), and Jaden Jones (junior) whose reasoning was that Hasan “caused harm to many people and their families.”
An anonymous adult in the building added that the “method is just” because if this situation happened to their family, “I wouldn’t care what happened to the shooter.” They also mentioned that they “have no sympathy for someone who killed innocent people.”
Mrs. Maisner, teacher in the district, added a tiny bit of humor, saying with a laugh that the firing squad execution method is “less cruel because you actually die,” referring to the recent lethal injection failures.
However, some people had different opinions. Autumn Waters (junior) said that she thinks “the whole death row thing with waiting so long, it seems like an easy way out.”
Mr. Nolan, a teacher, said he “doesn’t love the method.” He said it’s “not clean or safe, and causes unnecessary suffering.”
Mrs. McCoy, substitute teacher, mentioned that she is “against the death penalty” and that the people executed are “still humans.”
Mrs. Findon, another teacher, had conflicting points of view. She said that she is “pro death penalty” and that “if you purposefully take lives, you shouldn’t be given liberties of living.” However, she also mentioned that she doesn’t like the method because it would be “traumatizing to the squad.”
The teachers and students of Avonworth seem conflicted on how ethical the method of execution is, or even the execution itself.
