Army sergeant shot 5 soldiers before he was tackled and arrested at Fort Stewart, officials say
Few details were immediately available about what led to the gunfire, but officials said the shooter was Sgt. Quornelius Radford, 28, who used a personal handgun, not a military firearm.
Radford opened fire where he worked but officials wouldn't speculate about a motive, authorities said.
The injured soldiers are stable and expected to recover, said Brig Gen. John Lubas. The soldiers who tackled Radford helped ensure his arrest, Lubas said.
'These soldiers, without a doubt, prevented further casualties or wounded,' he said.
This latest act of violence on a U.S. military installation — sites that are supposed to be among the most secure in the country — again raised concerns about safety and security within the armed forces' own walls.
The Army said it's investigating the shooting. There were still many unanswered questions, including the condition of the soldiers, the scope of their injuries, the name of the shooter as well as any possible motive.
The injured were treated and then moved to Winn Army Community Hospital, base officials said in a Facebook post, adding there's no threat to the community.
Some of the wounded were also taken to Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah, said spokesperson Bryna Gordon. The hospital is the top-level trauma center for coastal Georgia. Gordon said she didn't know how many people were being taken to the hospital or what their conditions are.
Law enforcement was sent to the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team complex shortly before 11 a.m. Wednesday. The shooter was arrested at 11:35 a.m., officials said.
The lockdown lasted about an hour. After it was lifted, cars began to move through the normal security checkpoint at the fort's main gate.
The Army's 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team was created in 2016 when the service added more than 200 vehicles to an infantry unit of roughly 4,200 soldiers. Also known as the 'Spartan Brigade,' the Army has called the unit its 'most modern land fighting force.'
Located about 40 miles (64 kilometers) southwest of Savannah, Fort Stewart is the largest Army post east of the Mississippi River. It's home to thousands of soldiers assigned to the Army's 3rd Infantry Division and family members.
White House and Defense Department officials said President Donald Trump and Secretary Pete Hegseth had been briefed on the shooting.
The FBI was at the fort to help investigate, said Deputy Director Dan Bongino.
Among the deadliest acts of violence on U.S. military bases was a 2009 attack. A U.S. Army psychiatrist killed 13 people in a shooting that left more than 30 wounded at Fort Hood, a military installation in Texas.
In 2013, a defense contract worker and former Navy reservist killed 12 people at Washington Navy Yard. He was then killed in a gun battle with police.
In 2014, a soldier opened fire on his fellow service members at Fort Hood, killing three people and wounding more than a dozen others before the gunman killed himself.
In 2019, an aviation student opened fire in a classroom at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida, killing three people and injuring another dozen people including two sheriff's deputies. Just days earlier, a U.S. Navy sailor shot two people to death before killing himself at Pearl Harbor, the Naval station in Hawaii.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
10 minutes ago
- USA Today
Fort Stewart shooting marks the latest US military base attack in recent years
An Army sergeant shot and wounded five fellow soldiers on Aug. 6 at the Fort Stewart military base in Georgia, the latest in a growing number of violent, and sometimes deadly, incidents at U.S. military bases over the years. The base was briefly placed on lockdown just after 11 a.m. local time following reports of an active shooter. The suspect was identified as Sgt. Quornelius Radford, a 28-year-old automated logistics noncommissioned officer who was subdued by other soldiers and taken into custody, officials said at a news conference. The suspect had opened fire in an area of the south Georgia installation associated with the 3rd Infantry Division's 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team. All five injured are in stable condition and were expected to recover, according to Army Brig. Gen. John Lubas, the commander of the 3rd Infantry Division and Fort Stewart. The Aug. 6 shooting is the second in recent years to occur in the 3rd Infantry Division's 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team's workspace. In December 2022, a fellow soldier shot and killed Sgt. Nathan Hillman is in the unit's building complex. Here's a look at five other military base shootings since 2000. Fort Stewart shooting: Army says sergeant shot 5 soldiers at base in Georgia. All expected to recover. Nov. 5, 2009: Fort Hood, Texas U.S. Army Major and psychiatrist Nidal Hasan, 39, entered the Readiness Processing Center building in Killeen, Texas' Fort Hood Army post on Nov. 5, 2009, and opened fire, killing 13 and injuring more than 30 others. He appeared to target soldiers in uniform and reportedly passed over civilians in his path on several occasions. Hasan was shot five times by civilian police Sgt. Mark Todd, paralyzing him from the waist down and stopping the rampage. He was convicted in 2013 of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder and sentenced to death. He is currently being held at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, still awaiting execution after a series of appeals. In March 2025, the Supreme Court denied Hasan's final petition for review of his case, confirming his death sentence. He was motivated by Islamic extremism and opposition to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to notes shared with Fox News. Sept. 16, 2013: Washington Navy Yard, D.C. In the morning hours of Sept. 16, 2013, 34-year-old Aaron Alexis entered Building 197 of the Naval Sea Systems Command headquarters in Washington, D.C.'s Navy Yard, carrying a disassembled sawed-off shotgun in a bag. Once inside, he reassembled the gun and began shooting. He moved through the fourth, third, and first floors of the building, ultimately killing 12 and injuring eight more. After expending all of his shotgun ammo, Alexis used a 9mm Beretta M9 pistol he took off a security guard he killed to exchange fire with police. D.C. Police Emergency Response Team officer Dorian DeSantis ultimately shot Alexis in the head, killing him. All of the victims were civilians or contractors, not in the military. Alexis had previously been a member of the Navy, serving in the Fleet Logistics Support Squadron 46 at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth. He was honorably discharged in January 2011 after less than four years of service, though he had reportedly been cited for misconduct on multiple occasions. After leaving the Navy, he received secret-level security clearance and served as a subcontractor. While no motive has been definitively determined, CNN reported that Alexis was under the belief that he was being "controlled or influenced by extremely low frequency electromagnetic waves" leading up to the shooting. April 2, 2014: Fort Hood, Texas Fort Hood was again the scene of a mass-casualty shooting on April 14, 2014. Army Specialist Ivan Lopez, 34, entered the Transportation Battalion administrative office around 4 p.m. that afternoon and began shooting with a .45-caliber Smith & Wesson M&P pistol, injuring three soldiers. He then drove and later walked through the base, ultimately killing three and injuring 16. When confronted and fired at by a military police officer, Lopez shot himself in the head. While Lopez had gotten into an argument with the soldiers in the Transportation Battalion building before the shooting, Lt. Gen. Mark Milley said at the time that "there was no indication that he was targeting specific people." Lopez was undergoing "psychiatric treatment for depression and anxiety and a variety of other psychological" problems, Milley said, and was being evaluated for post-traumatic stress disorder following a tour in Iraq where he saw no combat. Dec. 4, 2019: Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii On Dec. 4, 2019, 22-year-old Machinist's Mate (Auxiliary) Fireman Gabriel A. Romero opened fire at the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam naval shipyard in Honolulu, Hawaii. Romero shot three Department of Defense civilian workers, killing two, before killing himself. The shooting took place days before thousands of people were planned to flood the base for an event commemorating the 78th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. No formal motive was ever identified, according to a Navy investigation. The Associated Press, citing a military official, reported that Romero was unhappy with his commanders and had been undergoing counseling. Dec. 6, 2019: Pensacola Naval Air Station, Florida On the morning of Dec. 6, 2019, a mass shooting took place at Pensacola's Naval Aviation Schools Command. Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, a second lieutenant in the Royal Saudi Air Force, was visiting the base as part of a training program sponsored by the Pentagon when he used a 9mm Glock to open fire in a classroom building. Alshamrani was shot and killed just 15 minutes later in a gunfight with Escambia County sheriff's deputies and the base's security force. In that time, he moved through multiple floors of the building, killing three U.S. Navy sailors and injuring eight more. In January 2020, the Department of Justice officially labeled the attack as an act of jihadist terrorism, and al-Qaeda claimed credit for the killings a month later. The FBI later confirmed the terrorist groups' involvement. Contributing: Davis Winkie and Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY
12 minutes ago
Active shooter drills at US military bases have become routine
Active-shooter drills at military bases have become standard to prepare for incidents similar to Wednesday's incident at Fort Stewart in Georgia, where five soldiers were shot yet expected to recover, officials say. Retired Army Gen. Robert Abrams, who served at Fort Stewart and visited there two weeks ago, told ABC News that active shooter training is an "annual training requirement." "It typically is focused on the installation's immediate response force and the installation's security forces," he added, comparing them to police SWAT teams. Last year, Fort Stewart military police were pictured participating in an active shooter and hostage rescue training exercise. "These exercises improve interoperability between the fire department and the Fort Stewart police force to save lives and prevent disasters," the Fort Stewart Public Affairs Office said in a photo caption. The alleged shooter in Wednesday's incident, Quornelius Radford, was "subdued" after other soldiers "immediately intervened" and tackled him, Brig. Gen. John Lubas, the 3rd Infantry Division and Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield commander, said at a news conference. "These soldiers, without a doubt, prevented further casualties," Lubas said. Enhanced security protocols at U.S. military bases were implemented in the wake of deadly mass shootings at several American military bases over the last two decades. The deadliest mass shooting at an American military base occurred in 2009, where 13 people were killed and 30 others were wounded at Fort Hood in Texas. At Fort Stewart, an active-shooter drill was conducted in 2011 that mimicked a real-life crisis with a fake shooter and hostage situation -- an exercise that had been discussed "since the shooting at Fort Hood," one of the organizers told Military Times. There are also strict rules on military bases regarding weapon possession. Access to combat firearms of U.S. military personnel on bases is highly restricted, with the weapons stored on base armories. Their use is limited only to soldiers participating in field training and they are returned to the armory at the conclusion of that training. Radford is believed to have used a personal handgun, not a military weapon, Lubas said. Military personnel are allowed to possess personal firearms that are legally registered, but there are restrictions on how they can be brought onto a base. Despite these increased security measures, deadly shootings have still occurred on U.S. military bases over recent years, and Wednesday's shooting at Fort Stewart was not the base's first time facing open fire. On Dec. 12, 2022, an Army specialist shot and killed an Army sergeant at Fort Stewart. Both soldiers were assigned to the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team -- the same brigade involved in Wednesday's shooting. A second fatal shooting at Fort Hood took place in 2014, which left three dead and 16 injured. In 2019, numerous shootings occurred at military bases, including Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard in Hawaii, the Marine Barracks in Washington, D.C., Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida, and the Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia.
CNN
40 minutes ago
- CNN
An Army sergeant is in custody after 5 soldiers were shot at Fort Stewart. Here's what we know about the suspect
An active-duty Army sergeant was taken into custody Wednesday on suspicion of opening fire at his workplace on the sprawling Fort Stewart military base in Georgia, wounding five of his fellow soldiers, authorities said. The suspect, identified as Sgt. Quornelius Samentrio Radford, 28, was subdued by nearby soldiers after he began shooting with a personal handgun, striking coworkers, according to Brig. Gen. John Lubas, the commanding general of the 3rd Infantry Division. All five soldiers are in stable condition, Lubas said at a news conference Wednesday. Radford's motive is not known. The shooting is among at least 262 mass shootings in the US so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive. It comes within days of shootings at a Midtown Manhattan skyscraper and a neighborhood bar in rural Montana that left multiple people dead. Here's what we know: Radford had a disagreement with one of the shooting victims on Tuesday, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the case. He followed that coworker to a maintenance area and shot him in the chest before shooting four others. It's unclear what the disagreement was about. Other soldiers 'prevented further casualties' by tackling Radford before police arrested him, Lubas said. 'Soldiers in the area that witnessed the shooting immediately and without hesitation tackled the soldier, subdued him. That allowed law enforcement to then take him into custody,' he said. Radford, a native of Jacksonville, Florida, joined the Army in 2018 as an automated logistical specialist and was assigned to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, the US Army said. His role involved handling supplies and warehouse operations. Lubas said Radford had not deployed to a combat zone and had no known behavioral incidents in his military record. However, the general acknowledged that Radford had been arrested for driving under the influence in May – an arrest that his chain of command was unaware of prior to the shooting. The DUI arrest 'was unknown to his chain of command until the event occurred, and we started looking into the law enforcement databases,' Lubas said. Radford used a personal handgun – not a military weapon – in the shooting, Lubas said. The firearm is a 9mm Glock that the suspect bought in Florida in May, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the case. The gun was recovered at the scene along with numerous shell casings, the official said. Authorities are unsure how Radford got the gun through the base's high security before carrying out the shooting at his place of work. 'At our gates, we have armed guards and protective equipment,' Lubas said. 'We're going to have to determine how he was able to get a handgun to his place of duty.' Carrying personal firearms on base is typically prohibited by military regulations. The US Army's Fort Stewart trains and deploys active and reserve Army units. Law enforcement was dispatched to the incident at 10:56 a.m. ET, according to a social media post from Fort Stewart Hunter Army Airfield. Less than ten minutes later, the base was locked down. At 11:09 a.m., emergency personnel were sent to treat the five soldiers who were shot. While all five soldiers are in stable condition, three of them required surgery, Lubas said, confirming that the shooting did include Radford's coworkers. Radford was apprehended at 11:35 a.m., the Fort Stewart social media post said. The lockdown of the 'main cantonment area' was lifted 35 minutes after that, according to the post. Since the shooting, Radford has been interviewed by the Army Criminal Investigation Division and now sits in pretrial confinement as he waits for a charging decision by the Office of the Special Trial Counsel, Lubas said Wednesday afternoon. In addition to military training grounds, Fort Stewart is home to thousands of families who live on base with their family members assigned there. The base supports more than 10,000 people, including soldiers, family members and Army civilian employees, according to the Army. The shooting happened in an area of the base that houses the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, also known as the Spartan Brigade. The brigade was first constituted in 1917 in North Carolina, and entered combat during World War I, according to an archived Army webpage. Though the Spartan Brigade was disbanded before World War II due to Army reorganization, several of its units participated in key American maneuvers during the war. In 1963, the Spartan Brigade was reconstituted and has since been positioned in Germany, Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan and throughout Africa for military strikes, humanitarian assistance and reconstruction efforts. In 2016, the Army chose the Spartan Brigade to convert to the 15th Armored Brigade Combat Team, a modernized tank brigade, according to the page and Army press releases. Following Wednesday's shooting, authorities said they'd prioritize the well-being of the victims and community at Fort Stewart. 'Our primary focus is first on caring for our injured soldiers and their families and also supporting the soldiers of the Spartan brigade,' Lubas said. 'All of the families of the victims have been notified, wrapping our arms around them and ensuring we provide them all the support that we can.' CNN's Mark Morales, Elizabeth Wolfe, Tori B. Powell, Jo Parker, Maureen Chowdhury, Aditi Sangal, Elise Hammond, John Miller, Natasha Bertrand and Amanda Musa contributed to this report.
