Fort Hood vet who played dead vows to tell shooter at execution: 'You failed, I'm still here'

AUSTIN, TEXAS: Alonzo Lunsford survived an attack that left 13 people dead at Fort Hood in 2009, but he has not forgotten the moment he was forced to lie motionless to stay alive.

Now, as former Army Major Nidal Hasan prepares to face a firing squad at the same Texas military installation on December 3, the retired sergeant plans to confront the man who shot him seven times.

He has a message he wants Hasan to hear before the sentence is carried out.

Survivor wants Nidal Hasan to look him in the eye

Lunsford plans to attend Hasan’s scheduled December 3 execution, determined to face the man whose attack changed his life.

He wants Hasan to see for himself that the shooting did not kill him.

“I want him to look at me in my eyes and I look at him in his eyes,” Lunsford told the BBC in an interview published on Friday, October 9, explaining his decision to attend.

He has a direct message for the gunman: “Dude, you failed, I’m still here.”

The planned encounter comes more than 17 years after Hasan opened fire on fellow soldiers inside Fort Hood, many of whom were unarmed.

Lunsford was among those shot that day, sustaining seven gunshot wounds as he tried to escape the gunfire.

While he intends to confront Hasan, Lunsford has also expressed support for the firing squad as the method of execution.

He believes lethal injection would be too lenient given the attack and its consequences for the victims.

“I think the method is befitting for him,” Lunsford said, explaining his view of the punishment.

Lunsford, however, expressed reservations about the execution being livestreamed for the public to watch.

Recounting the shooting, he described Hasan getting up, climbing onto a counter and opening fire.

Lunsford was hit above his left eye before making a split-second decision that may have saved his life.

“At that point I played dead,” he recalled.

Once Hasan moved away, Lunsford seized the opportunity to get out and help another wounded soldier make it outside.

Forgiveness but no sympathy

Despite the trauma, Lunsford says his Christian faith has helped him move forward.

He said he has forgiven Hasan because he believes forgiveness is necessary for his own healing.

He also expressed the hope that Hasan would seek forgiveness himself.

That does not mean he feels sympathy for the convicted shooter or believes the punishment should be softened.

Hasan was sentenced to death in 2013 after being convicted of killing 13 people and attempting to kill 32 others in the Fort Hood massacre.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said the execution will be livestreamed, arguing that the public should see the consequences of such crimes.

President Trump later backed the public execution, saying the convict “deserved it.”