US Army sergeant shot five soldiers at Georgia's Fort Stewart, official says
Radford opened fire where he worked but officials would not 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, he said.
'These soldiers, without a doubt, prevented further casualties or wounded,' he said.
The injured were treated and then moved to Winn Army Community Hospital, base officials said in a Facebook post, adding there was no threat to the community.
Law enforcement was sent to the 2nd Armoured Brigade Combat Team complex shortly before 11am local time on Wednesday.
Radford was arrested at 11.35am, officials said.
The lockdown lasted about an hour, and three schools just outside the base took steps similar to a lockdown as well, 'out of an abundance of caution', the Liberty County School System said.
After the lockdown was lifted, cars began to move through the normal security checkpoint at the fort's main gate.
The army's 2nd Armoured 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 south west of Savannah, Fort Stewart is the largest army post east of the Mississippi River.
It is home to thousands of soldiers assigned to the army's 3rd Infantry Division and family members.
The fort's three elementary schools were locked down, community superintendent Brian Perry told WTOC-TV.
The schools have nearly 1,400 students, according to the Department of Defence.
White House and Defence Department officials said President Donald Trump and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth had been briefed on the shooting.
The FBI was at the fort to help investigate, said deputy director Dan Bongino.
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The Independent
38 minutes ago
- The Independent
Fort Stewart army base shooting raises questions about military gun policies
A shooting that injured five soldiers at one of the country's largest military bases on Wednesday has resurfaced questions about a long-standing army policy that largely prevents service members from carrying personal weapons on military installations. Soldiers in the area who witnessed the shooting at Fort Stewart in Georgia 'immediately and without hesitation' tackled the shooter to subdue him before law enforcement arrived, Brigadier Gen. John Lubas said at a news conference Wednesday. But they didn't have firearms to shoot back because of a policy first enacted decades ago to ensure safety by limiting armed members on army bases to military police. The suspect in the shooting, logistics Sgt. Quornelius Radford, used a personal weapon, Lubas said. Questions about why soldiers didn't have weapons were buzzing online after at least one video of the incident on social media appears to show service members in uniform running to safety amid a lockdown that lasted about an hour, instead of firing back at the shooter. While some have questioned why many service members in the area during the shooting didn't use weapons to defend themselves, others have questioned whether existing regulations do enough to prevent shootings on bases. The shooting is the latest in a growing list of violent incidents at American military installations over the years — some claiming upward of a dozen lives. Experts say that there are reasons for long-standing regulations on military bases, despite their limitations. Department of Defense policy in place for decades Department of Defense policy prohibits military personnel from carrying personal weapons on base without permission from a senior commander, and there is a strict protocol for how the firearm must be stored. Typically, military personnel must officially check their guns out of secure storage to go to on-base hunting areas or shooting ranges, and then check all firearms back in promptly after its sanctioned use. Military police are often the only armed personnel on base, outside of shooting ranges, hunting areas or in training, where soldiers can wield their service weapons without ammunition. The federal policy leaves little room for local commanders to use discretion about how the policy is enforced. That means the regulation applies even in Georgia, a state with some of the most lax gun regulations in the country, where Fort Stewart is located. Designed to protect national security Robert Capovilla, a founding partner for one of the largest military law firms in the country, strongly believes in the Second Amendment. But he said that the strict firearm policies on military bases exist for a reason. 'A lot of these installations are involved in top-secret operations, dealing with top-secret information, and because of that you need a heightened security," said Capovilla, a former military prosecutor and defense attorney. 'You simply don't want folks walking around a federal installation with personal weapons.' He said he has traveled to 'nearly every single major military installation' in North America for his work. Whenever he visits an installation, he said armed military police have a visible presence almost constantly on base. He added that he doesn't believe Wednesday's shooting could have been prevented if military personnel had been armed at the time. Limitations to military gun regulation Firearms on military bases are more regulated than most states in some ways, according to former military prosecutor and defense counsel Eric Carpenter. But he said that the limitations on gun control on military bases parallel gun policy debates in the public more broadly. 'You don't forfeit all of your rights when you enter the military,' Carpenter said. ' Outside of a military situation, the service member has just as much Second Amendment right as anyone else.' For example, it could be fairly straightforward for a service member living off-base to bring a weapon onto the military installation, Carpenter said, because a senior commander can't regulate gun ownership off base. There is also scant legal ground for leadership to confiscate a gun when a service member is exhibiting signs of a mental health crisis or post-traumatic stress disorder, potentially posing a threat to themselves or others. In recent years, those gaps have come under more scrutiny because of mass shootings, he said. 'All those rules aren't going to prevent someone from doing what the guy did today,' Carpenter said.
ITV News
2 hours ago
- ITV News
Suspect arrested after five US soldiers injured in shooting at army base in Georgia
Five soldiers were injured after a shooting on an Army base in the US state of Georgia. All victims are in a stable condition and are expected to recover. An Army sergeant has opened fire on one of America's largest army bases, shooting five soldiers and prompting a brief lockdown. The suspect has been named by authorities as Logistics Sgt. Quornelius Radford. The incident took place on Wednesday morning at Fort Stewart in the state of Georgia. Speaking to reporters, Brig. Gen. John Lubas, commanding general of the 3rd Infantry Division, confirmed that all five soldiers are in a stable condition. Three of the soldiers required surgery, and two were transported to Memorial Hospital in Savannah, Georgia, for additional care. The motive of the suspect remains unclear. The suspect used a personal handgun and opened fire on fellow soldiers at his workplace, officials have confirmed. As part of their investigation, military investigators will try to determine how the suspect was able to bring a personal weapon onto the army base. Sgt. Quornelius Radford, 28, is an active duty soldier assigned to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team at Fort Stewart, Georgia, with no combat history. He joined the Army in 2018 as an automated logistical specialist. President Donald Trump has said the suspect 'will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,' while speaking to reporters inside the Oval Office. 'The entire nation is praying for the victims and their families, and hopefully they'll fully recover, and we can put this chapter behind," he said. "But we're not going to forget what happened. We're going to take very good care of this person that did this — horrible person.' US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth also called the incident a 'cowardly shooting' in a post on social media. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp wrote he was saddened by the shooting and offered his prayers and thoughts to the families of the victims. 'As we remain in close contact with law enforcement on the ground, Marty, the girls, and I are saddened by today's tragedy at Ft. Stewart. "We are keeping the victims, their families, and all those who answer the call to serve in our hearts and prayers, and we ask that Georgians everywhere do the same,' Kemp wrote. Law enforcement was sent to the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team complex shortly before 11 am on Wednesday morning, with the suspect arrested at 11:35 a.m., officials said. The lockdown lasted around an hour.
Reuters
3 hours ago
- Reuters
U.S. Army sergeant suspected of shooting, wounding five soldiers at Fort Stewart in Georgia
ATLANTA, Aug 6 (Reuters) - A U.S. Army sergeant shot and wounded five soldiers with a personal handgun on Wednesday at Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield near Savannah, Georgia, before he was subdued by other soldiers and arrested, military officials said. All five soldiers were listed in stable condition following the incident and are expected to recover, though three required surgery, according to Brigadier General John Lubas, the base commander. Lockdown security measures on the base were lifted after the suspect was taken into custody, and there was no threat to the surrounding community, Lubas said. A motive was not readily apparent, he added. The suspect was identified as Quornelius Radford, 28, an active-duty sergeant specializing in automated logistics and assigned to a supply unit of the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team at Fort Stewart. Lubas said Radford, stationed at Fort Stewart since 2022, had not previously been deployed to combat. Lubas said at an afternoon press conference that the shooting unfolded shortly before 11 a.m. local time at the suspect's work post on base and involved co-workers in his unit. "I don't have reason to believe that it had anything to do with a training event. Other than that, I can't state the motivations for this soldier." How the pistol slipped through base security onto the installation remained unknown, the general said. Other soldiers in the area who witnessed the shooting tackled and subdued the suspect before law enforcement arrived and took him into custody, according to the general. Radford was later questioned by Army investigators and was being held pending charging decisions. Lubas gave little information about Radford's background except to say he had a prior drunken-driving arrest, which was unknown to the chain of command until "the event occurred and we started looking into the law enforcement databases." Speaking to reporters at the White House, President Donald Trump said, "The entire nation is praying for the victims and their families." He called the suspect "horrible." Mass shootings are relatively common in the U.S., where guns are widely available, and military bases, which are among the highest-security places in the country, have not been spared. The deadliest was at the Fort Hood Army base in 2009, when a major fatally shot unarmed soldiers in a medical building with a laser-sighted handgun, killing 13 people and injuring more than 30. Less than five years later, a soldier at the same Texas base fatally shot three service members and injured 16 others before killing himself. In 2013, an employee of a government defense contractor killed 12 people at Washington's Navy Yard. In 2019, a Saudi Air Force lieutenant shot and killed three people and wounded eight others at a U.S. Navy base in Pensacola, Florida. Fort Stewart is located in Hinesville, about 225 miles (362 km) southeast of Atlanta and 40 miles (64 km) southwest of Savannah. Nearly 9,000 people live at the base, according to the 2020 Census. The base supports approximately 15,000 active-duty Army military personnel, as well as thousands of military retirees, family members, and others, according to its website.
