Alonzo Lunsford, a former US Army sergeant who survived the Fort Hood massacre, supports executing gunman Nidal Hasan by firing squad but has questioned plans to livestream the killing.
Lunsford, who was shot seven times during the 2009 attack, told the BBC that the chosen method was “befitting” for Hasan. He said alternatives such as lethal injection would amount to “doing him a favor.”
Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, killed 12 unarmed US soldiers and one civilian after opening fire inside a medical building at Fort Hood, Texas, in November 2009.
Although Lunsford backs the firing squad, he said the execution should not be broadcast for public amusement, warning that it was “not something you should view for entertainment purposes.”
Speaking to BBC Radio 4 on Friday, Lunsford said he opposed showing the execution in its entirety and without censorship to the wider public.
“To show the whole thing without it being censored for the general public, for me personally, I don’t agree with that, but it’s not about my personal belief,” he said.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has confirmed that the execution will be available to the public via livestream, saying Americans should see the consequences of such a horrific crime.
However, the unprecedented broadcast may never take place. Legal experts told the outlet that the execution could ultimately be blocked.
Former US Army sergeant Alonzo Lunsford, a survivor of the Fort Hood massacre, supports executing gunman Nidal Hasan by firing squad but has questioned plans to livestream the killing
Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, killed 13 people when he opened fire inside a medical building at Fort Hood, Texas, in November 2009
If the livestream goes ahead, it would be the first public execution in the United States in almost a century.
Lunsford said he was concerned about the “effect” and “message” a livestreamed execution might have on younger viewers. However, he added that survivors and relatives of those affected by the massacre “should be able to look at it.”
“I’m gonna be there [to watch in person], and before they pull the trigger, I want him to look at me in my eyes, and I look at him in his eyes, and I want him to know: ‘Dude, you failed, I’m still here,’” he said.
“I don’t really have any sympathy for him as far as firing squad vs lethal injection, hanging or gas chamber, because he didn’t have that same compassion when he did the deed on 5 November.”
“I think the method is befitting for him because the lethal injection—that’s doing him a favor. Gas chamber? Is doing him a favor,” he added.
Hasan said he carried out the Fort Hood attack because he was angry that US troops had been deployed to Afghanistan and wanted to protect Islamic and Taliban leaders.
In November 2009, Hasan entered a medical readiness building at the base with two guns and several magazines of ammunition. He shouted “Allahu Akbar,” Arabic for “God is great,” before opening fire on soldiers waiting for medical tests and vaccinations.
The mass shooting killed 13 people and wounded 32, making it the deadliest attack on a domestic US military installation in the country’s history.
Lunsford was shot seven times in the 2009 Fort Hood attack
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has confirmed that the public will be able to watch the execution through a livestream
The Pentagon announced on Monday that Hegseth had recommended, and Donald Trump approved, his death by Army firing squad on December 3, the first military execution since 1961.
On Thursday, it was announced that the execution will be live-streamed, and the move prompted swift backlash.
The UN human rights office said on Friday that broadcasting the killing ‘is tantamount to a public execution and would breach the absolute prohibition of torture.’
Democratic Senator Chris Murphy went further, asking on live television: ‘What is he mimicking? ISIS executions.’
The backlash crossed party lines, with Republican Senator Thom Tillis declaring that public executions are ‘what oppressive dictatorships like Iran and Afghanistan do.’
‘It should not be happening in America,’ the North Carolina senator wrote on X late Thursday, adding that streaming the death was ‘beyond disgusting.’