Newly released records reveal details of suspected Fort Stewart shooter's recent arrest
Newly released records reveal the state the suspected Fort Stewart shooter was in at the time of a DUI arrest months before an attack on Aug. 6 that left five soldiers wounded at the Georgia military installation.
U.S. Army Sgt. Quornelius Radford, 28, a noncommissioned officer, turned on his fellow soldiers and shot them using his personal handgun, according to Army Brig. Gen. John Lubas. Six Fort Stewart soldiers jumped into action and apprehended Radford. The five wounded soldiers in the attack are expected to recover.
The shooting at the base came just months after Radford was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol in Liberty County, the area where Fort Stewart is located. His superiors were unaware of his arrest on Elma G. Miles Parkway.
"I smelled a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from his breath," a Georgia State Patrol officer wrote in a report shared with USA TODAY. "Mr. Radford's eyes were watery and bloodshot."
Radford, of Jacksonville, Florida, had worked at Fort Stewart since 2022 and was not previously deployed to combat, Lubas said. Soldiers in Radford's field typically manage maintenance or warehouse operations by placing orders and tracking work in Army computer systems.
When was Radford arrested?
Georgia State Patrol pulled over and arrested Radford at about 1 a.m. on Sunday, May 18, according to an arrest report shared with USA TODAY. Records show Radford was arrested near the intersection of Elma G. Miles Parkway and Sharon Street in Hinesville, Georgia.
The location is in Liberty County, about 3 miles away from Fort Stewart.
The arresting officer asked Radford to take a breathalyzer test, but the Army sergeant refused, according to the Georgia State Patrol report. He also refused to do a field sobriety test, "stating that he's not drunk," the officer wrote.
A field test aims to assess a driver's balance and coordination through tests such as having a driver stand on one leg. Results are admissible in court.
The suspected Fort Stewart shooter also refused to take a chemical test, including a blood test, records say.
What we know about the motive: Why did an Army sergeant open fire at Fort Stewart?
'Strong odor of an alcoholic beverage'
The arresting officer initially pulled over Radford for running a red light. He was driving a 2021 gray Nissan Altima with Florida plates, records show.
The Georgia State Patrol officer noticed that Radford might have been drinking when he approached the Army sergeant and noticed a "strong odor of an alcoholic beverage" on Radford's breath.
When asked if he had been drinking, Radford said he "had a beer hours ago," according to the report.
The officer noticed Radford's "speech patterns was mumbled," the report added. Radford told the officer he had a "stuttering problem."
U.S. military bases: Fort Stewart shooting marks the latest attack in recent years
Where is Radford now?
Radford was due in court in Liberty County on Aug. 20 for the DUI arrest, according to Hannah Wiley, a deputy clerk at the court. After being apprehended at the scene on Aug. 6, he is awaiting charges in pretrial confinement.
It wasn't immediately clear whether he had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
His father, Eddie Radford, told The New York Times that he hadn't noticed anything unusual about his son's behavior and didn't know what might have led to the violent attack.
But the elder Radford said his son had been seeking a transfer and complained to his family of racism at Fort Stewart. "It's hard for me to process," Eddie Radford told the Times.
Contributing: Davis Winkie, Jeanine Santucci, Christopher Cann, Ansley Franco, Thao Nguyen, Amanda Lee Myers, Scott Butler; Reuters
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Washington Post
16 hours ago
- Washington Post
Explosion at Lebanese arms depot kills 6 army experts, wounds several others
BEIRUT — Munition in an arms depot in south Lebanon exploded Saturday as army experts were dismantling them, killing six of them and wounding several others, the army said. The incident occurred on the edge of the southern village of Zibqin in Tyre province, the army said. It added that efforts were being made to determine the cause of the blast but gave no further details. The depot is believed to have been used by the militant group Hezbollah.
USA Today
18 hours ago
- USA Today
Spoilers! Why this 'Weapons' villain is summer's most disturbing baddie
Spoiler alert! We're discussing important plot points, that wild ending and one seriously deranged villain in the new horror movie 'Weapons' (in theaters now). So beware if you haven't seen it yet. Imagine a malevolent mashup of Little Orphan Annie, the Joker and the wicked old lady from 'Hansel and Gretel.' That would be Gladys, the most disturbing baddie of this summer movie season. We've seen some antagonistic doozies at the cinema the past few months. Planet-eating Galactus. That new mutant "Jurassic" dinosaur. A returning Fisherman. Dog-napping bad boyfriend Lex Luthor. Heck, even Death himself. But in director Zach Cregger's 'Weapons,' Amy Madigan is cunning, despicable, unrecognizable and in severe need of a fashion makeover as the terrifying Gladys. Join our Watch Party! Sign up to receive USA TODAY's movie and TV recommendations right in your inbox What is the new movie 'Weapons' about? Like his last horror standout, 2022's 'Barbarian,' Cregger pummels your expectations with 'Weapons' and flips the movie you're watching into something completely. Told from six different characters' perspectives, the plot centers on 17 children from the same third-grade class who wake up at 2:17 in the morning, run from their houses (with their arms jutting out like they're pretending to be airplanes) and disappear into the night. Because all the missing children were from her class, Justine (Julia Garner) becomes the town pariah and her story intertwines with other characters, including her cop ex Paul (Alden Ehrenreich), the embattled school principal Marcus (Benedict Wong), and Archer (Josh Brolin), an angry father who wants the truth about his missing boy. But what seems like it might be a metaphorical scary movie about kids' safety in school, or a cautionary tale of moms, dads and mob rule, gradually shifts. By the time Gladys shows up in full, the movie becomes a fairy tale of the Brothers Grimm sort. (So modern, it might be considered Bros Grimm.) Who is the villain in 'Weapons'? And Gladys is a sight, with large glasses, a wardrobe of reds, purples and greens, garish lipstick, and candy-colored crimson hair with curls and bowl-cut bangs. Madigan's ghoulish persona appears to be a cross between a Golden Girl and Pennywise the clown, but is actually a witch. Revealed to be the aunt of Alex Lilly (Cary Christopher), the only kid from Justine's class who didn't go missing, Gladys is staying with Alex's parents for a while. But actually, she's there to suck the life force out of the mom and dad. Gladys also has a way – through using a stick, personal items and a bell – to mind-control people, turning who she wants into weapons and others into targets. Madigan is an ingenious person to cast as Gladys because it's the kind of role she's never had. She's the understanding wife of 'Field of Dreams,' the scrappy tomboy mechanic in 'Streets of Fire,' the loving aunt in 'Gone Baby Gone.' Not the crazy aunt/spell-casting kook who's going to be film fans' top Halloween costume this year. It's not until the makeup and wig comes off do you realize that this witchy maniac is Madigan, all freaky-deaky when keeping the missing kids in the basement of the Lillys' house (so she can seemingly drain them of their life force) and making Alex do her bidding by threatening his parents. 'I can make them eat each other if I want to,' Gladys warns him. What happens in the ending of 'Weapons'? Justine survives Gladys turning Marcus into a killing machine who tries to murder her, and she and Archer figure out that Alex's house is where the children are. But it's Alex who ends up the real hero, using Gladys' magic against her, weaponizing the kids and siccing them on Gladys. In the film's darkly hilarious climax, the witch and her pursuers crash through people's windows, living rooms and yards in a bonkers chase that winds up with the children literally tearing her to gory pieces. It's a cathartic – and downright rousing – denouement, though what's really interesting about 'Weapons' is how Cregger teases his villain before she's even really a major part of the movie. A frightening red-haired figure with a ghoulish smile is seen and teased in nightmare sequences and strange visions early on, so we get eerie 'glimpses' at Gladys before we see her. And when Justine is being hounded by townspeople early in the film, Archer writes 'WITCH' in big red paint on the side of her SUV. Even though she's the victim of what one might call a witch hunt, it wryly gives away the story's true villain.
New York Post
a day ago
- New York Post
Fort Stewart soldier credits Army training for heroically grabbing gun from accused shooter Quornelius Radford
A heroic Fort Stewart soldier who stopped accused mass shooter Quornelius Radford said his Army training took over in the moments he confronted the suspect on Wednesday. Sgt. Aaron Turner, who knows the alleged Army base shooter, initially tried to calm the 28-year-old down and distract him from targeting 'leadership' — but had to make a courageous grasp for the weapon before any more people got hurt. 'I ended up taking charge by grabbing the barrel and the extended magazine at that point,' Turner told the Associated Press. Advertisement Sgt. Aaron Turner knew accused gunman Sgt. Radford and attempted to talk him down before snatching the weapon. ASSOCIATED PRESS 'Pretty much training just ended up kicking in at that point. It wasn't about my life at that point, it was about the soldiers and the personnel. Making sure they get out safely.' Prior to the heroic disarming, Turner revealed that he tried to talk Radford down during the incident which had Fort Stewart on lockdown for over 40 minutes. Advertisement 'I was pretty much asking him 'what was going on' and pretty much why he was getting to the point of doing that,' Turner told the outlet. 'He just pretty much got to the point of telling me 'Get out of here.' Pretty much that he's not going to end up hurting soldiers, just leadership.' Turner was one of six soldiers at Fort Stewart to receive the Meritorious Service Medal for stopping the shooting spree which injured five people. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll comforts Sergeant Aaron Turner after Turner received the Meritorious Service Medal. AP Advertisement Officials have not announced a motive for the shooting. Radford sent a cryptic text message to his aunt before Wednesday's shooting, writing, 'he loved everybody and that he'll be in a better place because he was about to go do something,' The New York Times reported. Two soldiers who knew Radford in 2018 while in training at Fort Lee said he was relentlessly mocked for having a speech impediment. Advertisement Back in January, Radford posted on Facebook that he lost a loved one in a wrong-way crash and that he was drinking alcohol to 'make that pain feeling go away,' NBC reported citing friends. In May, Radford was arrested for driving under the influence in Hinesville, Ga., a small town near Fort Stewart.
