The daughter of a victim killed in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting has strongly condemned plans to livestream the execution of the convicted gunman, describing the broadcast as a spectacle that fails to deliver justice. Keely Cahill Vanacker, whose father Michael Cahill was among the 13 people fatally shot by Nidal Malik Hasan, expressed deep anguish over the decision to televise Hasan’s execution by firing squad.

Hasan, a former Army major, carried out the mass shooting at a medical processing center on the Fort Hood military base near Killeen, Texas, on November 5, 2009. He was paralyzed after being shot by responding police officers and has since been confined to a wheelchair. During his trial, Hasan acknowledged targeting U.S. soldiers deploying to Afghanistan, claiming he was waging a holy war, or “jihad,” against what he called an illegal conflict. In 2013, he was convicted on 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder.

The announcement that Hasan’s execution would be livestreamed came on December 3 during an interview between Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and MAGA influencer Jack Posobiec. The plan has met with significant criticism from across the political spectrum. Vanacker stated in a Monday interview that the livestream “has nothing to do with justice” and called the move “absolutely the worst thing you could do.” She said the broadcast would turn tragedy into entertainment and would be a widespread source of horror on social media, offering no true closure for victims’ families.

Vanacker emphasized that even families seeking closure would not support a live broadcast. “Livestreaming isn’t closure for any of us,” she said, adding that the proposal was “a really horrible reaction” and mishandling of the situation.

Senator Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, also criticized the decision, urging the Pentagon to reverse course. In a social media post, she described the livestreamed execution as a “gruesome decision” that would grant Hasan the “martyrdom” he sought, condemning the plan as something expected only from “terrorists and dictators.”

Former President Donald Trump initially expressed support for the public execution but later stated on Saturday that he had not yet made a final decision on whether to proceed, saying he was weighing the military’s preferences before making a ruling.

The debate over broadcasting Hasan’s execution underscores the complex tensions between justice, public transparency, and the sensitivities of victims’ families in cases involving high-profile terrorism-related crimes.