What a Survivor of the Fort Hood Shooting Says About the Gunman’s Execution Being Livestreamed by the Government

Instagram Facebook Facebook Twitter Twitter Amazon TikTok TikTok Thought Catalog Diamond Mark Camera Collective World FlagLink Loading Arrow Pointing Down Skip to content Alonzo Lunsford survived 7 gunshot wounds to his head and stomach in the Fort Hood shooting. He’s planning to attend Nidal Hasan’s execution in person, but he’s concerned about the government’s plan to livestream it.

“I don’t want this to be viewed upon as a spectacle, like a pay-per-view event, or like going to a basketball tournament,” Lunsford said.

Hasan, a former Army psychiatrist, killed 13 people at the Texas military base in November 2009. He served in the U.S. Army for roughly 21 years (1988–2009), advancing in rank to major. He had never deployed overseas and was scheduled for deployment to Afghanistan around the time of the shooting.

His execution is scheduled for December 3 at Fort Hood, Acting Army Secretary Adam Telle said.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on October 8 that the execution would be open to viewers. “We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public, because people need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things,” he said.

Lunsford warned that the broadcast could establish a precedent for future executions. He said that would conflict with the United States’ responsibility to set a moral standard for the world.

Fellow survivor Dayna Ferguson Roscoe, who was shot in her arm, shoulder and thigh, said she hadn’t expected a livestream. “I hadn’t really thought about if I agree with the decisions being made — but it doesn’t make a difference in what happens to him,” she said.

Lawmakers from both parties have criticized the broadcast plan. Democratic Rep. Adam Smith, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, said, “Calling for a livestream of the execution of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan is disturbing and makes a mockery of our legal system.”

Republican Rep. Austin Scott of Georgia wrote on X on October 9: “I absolutely support the sentence of death, but live-streaming executions is what jihadists do.”

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