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UPI
2 days ago
- UPI
Army honors Fort Stewart shooting heroes as details emerge
Aug. 7 (UPI) -- Six soldiers at Fort Stewart, Ga., were honored Thursday with medals for their actions after a sergeant opened fire, shooting and injuring five fellow soldiers on Wednesday. Officials said Sgt. Quornelius Radford, 28, shot his co-workers in the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team with his personal handgun. The Army post was placed under lockdown at 11 a.m. Wednesday. It was declared "all clear" just before 2 p.m. Some soldiers disarmed and tackled the shooter, while others rushed to try to save the victims. Two victims are still hospitalized Thursday. Their names haven't been released. The six honored were awarded the Meritorious Service Medal. "We're going to take a moment and thank these six soldiers," U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll said. "Under duress and fire, they ran into battle to the sound of the gunfire, took down the assailant, and then took care of their comrades, and that made all the difference." "They were unarmed and ran at and tackled an armed person who they knew was actively shooting their buddies, their colleagues, their fellow soldiers," Driscoll told reporters Thursday. Those honored were: First Sgt. Joshua Arnold, Staff Sgt. Robert Pacheco, Sgt. Eve Rodarte, Staff Sgt. Melissa Taylor, Master Sgt. Justin Thomas and Sgt. Aaron Turner. Turner, of Farmington, N.M, was the first to subdue the suspect, with Thomas from Kingwood, Texas, helping to keep him restrained, according to the Army. Pacheco, Rodarte and Taylor are combat medics. All five victims were expected to recover, Army Brig. Gen. John Lubas said. Two of the injured soldiers were taken to a trauma center in Savannah, and three were treated at the Winn Army Community Hospital on the post. One underwent surgery. "Our priority focus is first caring for our injured soldiers and their families and also supporting the soldiers of the Spartan Brigade," Lubas said. "When we spoke to the surgeons in the hospital, it was clear that the actions [the medics] took, primarily stopping that bleeding before they were loaded up into ambulances and quickly evacuated to Winn Army Medical, certainly saved their lives," Lubas said. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution told Turner's story. He said, "We were trying to make sure we locked everything down, securing it. And then the next thing you know, he ended up walking through." Turner said he began talking to Radford "to try and de-escalate him." He said he knew him, but not well. "I had never seen any signs of him being out of character or anything," Turner said. When Turner approached him, Radford told him, "Go home." Radford told him this didn't have anything to do with Turner or other soldiers, "that it was pretty much leaders" he was after. At some point, Turner said Radford tried to reload the pistol, and Turner grabbed the gun's barrel and kept it aimed toward the ground until Radford could be subdued with help from others. Thomas helped restrain Radford, giving Turner the ability to take the gun away. "I was able to disarm him, drop the magazine and eject the round," said Turner. Being his coworker makes it difficult, he said. "Knowing the fact that it's a teammate, it never ends up getting to the point where you really process that," Turner said. Radford's father, Eddie Radford, 52, who lives in Jacksonville, Fla., told the New York Times late Wednesday that there were no signs that he noticed to cause concern before the attack. "It's hard for me to process," he said. He said his son was seeking a transfer from Fort Stewart and had complained to his family that he had experienced racism at the post, where he had been stationed for several years. Radford, who is Black, sent a text message to his aunt on Wednesday morning which "said that he loved everybody, and that he'll be in a better place because he was about to go and do something," Eddie Radford said. He had not seen the message himself, he said, but it was described to him by the aunt. President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House the "entire nation is praying for the victims and their families," calling the suspect "horrible." "Today, a cowardly shooting at Fort Stewart left five brave soldiers wounded," Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said. "Swift justice will be brought to the perpetrator and anyone else found to be involved." Radford, who is in a civilian jail, will likely be transferred to a military detention center, said Ryan O'Connor, Army Criminal Investigation Division special agent in charge. O'Connor said Radford is in custody and that CID is working through the Uniform Code of Military Justice processes, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Radford had a recent arrest for driving under the influence, Lubas said. The arrest was "unknown to his chain of command until the (shooting) occurred." About 8,800 people live at Fort Stewart, in Hinesville, about 40 miles southwest of Savannah.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Soldier with ties to Fort Bragg receives medal for actions in Fort Stewart shooting incident
An Army first sergeant originally from Fort Bragg was among six 3rd Infantry Division soldiers honored for their 'heroic actions' Aug. 6 following a shooting on Fort Stewart, Georgia, in which five other soldiers with the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team were injured. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll presented 1st Sgt. Joshua Arnold with a Meritorious Service Medal for providing immediate aid to the wounded soldiers, including stopping the bleeding of at least one. The other soldiers honored were: Master Sgt. Justin Thomas of Kingwood, Texas. Staff Sgt. Melissa Taylor of Winterhaven, Florida. Staff Sgt. Robert Pacheco of Amsterdam, New York. Sgt. Eve Rodarte of El Centro, California. Sgt. Aaron Turner of Farmington, New Mexico. Related: Who is Quornelius Radford? What we know about the Fort Stewart shooting suspect 'The fast action of these soldiers, under stress and under trauma and under fire, absolutely saved lives from being lost,' Driscoll said at a news conference that accompanied the award presentations. In an interview with MSNBC following the ceremony, Arnold said he was in a conference room at the unit when he heard a gunshot, then walked into a hallway filled with gunpowder smoke and heard someone say they'd been shot. "I immediately helped the person onto the ground, put the soldier on the ground, and one of the medics, Staff Sgt. Taylor, had came up and immediately started providing aid to that soldier, and that's when the soldier told me someone else was shot," Driscoll said. In total, he said, Driscoll rendered aid to three of the five wounded soldiers until medics could take over. When told he and the others were being hailed as heroes, the North Carolinian responded: 'I was doing my job ... As a first sergeant for these soldiers, my job is to take care of soldiers.' What happened at Fort Stewart? Officials allege that shortly before 11 a.m. on Aug. 6, Sgt. Quornelius Radford, 28, opened fire on his coworkers at the 703rd Brigade Support Battalion's company operations facility. Fellow soldiers who witnessed the shooting tackled the gunman and subdued him until authorities arrived, officials said. "These soldiers, without a doubt, prevented further casualties," Brig. Gen. John Lubas said. Two of the injured soldiers were transported to a trauma center, and three were treated at the Winn Army Community Hospital on the base. One underwent surgery. Lubas said a personal gun was used in the attack, not a military firearm. It wasn't clear how the gunman was able to bring the weapon through security and onto the installation, he said. Radford is in pretrial confinement awaiting charges in the Liberty County Jail in Hinesville, Georgia, jail records show. This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Soldier from Fort Bragg honored for heroics in Fort Stewart shooting
USA Today
2 days 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
International Business Times
2 days ago
- International Business Times
Who Is Quornelius Radford? Fort Stewart Gunman Who Shot Five Soldiers Identified as Army Sergeant Who Was Earlier Arrested in May for DUI
The gunman who shot five at Fort Stewart Army Base in Georgia has been identified as Quornelius Radford, as per reports and social media. Five soldiers were wounded at after Radford allegedly opened fire inside the army base. The base commander at the Georgia Army base reported an active shooter and placed the compound on lockdown on Wednesday. The shooting took place in the area of the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team (2ABCT) at the base, which is located roughly 40 miles southwest of Savannah and includes Wright and Evans Army Airfield. Videos shared on social media from the incident showed several soldiers taking cover as the active shooter alert was announced. Face of Evil Quornelius Radford X Radford, according to reports, is 28 years old and is an army sergeant. He was arrested moments after he opened fire inside the army base. He was previously arrested in Georgia in May for driving under the influence. He allegedly has ties to Florida. The motive behind the mass shooting isn't immediately clear. A base was put on lockdown initially but has now been lifted. The lockdown began at 11:04 a.m. in parts of the base, including Wright and Evans Army Airfield and Fort Stewart Schools, with authorities urging everyone on-site to stay inside and lock all doors and windows. Superintendent Brian Perry confirmed in a statement that three on-base schools—Kessler Elementary, Murray Elementary, and Diamond Elementary—were also placed on lockdown due to the incident. "Per DOD alert the commander of Fort Stewart has issued a lock down. Diamond, Kessler, and Murray Schools are all in a lock down at this time. There is no immediate threat to the schools at this time. We will send a message when an all clear is announced." The FBI's Savannah office, part of the Atlanta division, released a statement saying it is aware of the incident and is "coordinating with Army Criminal Investigation Division for any assistance that might be needed." Prayers for Everyone At least five people were shot at Fort Stewart, the largest U.S. Army base east of the Mississippi River X Georgia Governor Brian Kemp also issued a statement saying that he was "saddened" by the "tragedy" at Fort Stewart, adding that his administration has been in constant communication with law enforcement officials at the scene. "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 all Georgians do the same." Fort Stewart, located in southeast Georgia, is the largest U.S. Army base east of the Mississippi River, spanning around 280,000 acres (437 square miles—about 93% the size of New York City). It serves as the headquarters for the 3rd Infantry Division and is also used as a training ground for various other military units.
LeMonde
2 days ago
- LeMonde
US: Army sergeant shot 5 soldiers at Fort Stewart, Georgia, forcing a brief lockdown
A sergeant shot five soldiers on Wednesday, August 6, at one of the country's largest Army bases before he was quickly tackled by other Fort Stewart troops, forcing a brief lockdown, officials said. 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, said Lubas, who commands the 3rd Infantry Division. "These soldiers, without a doubt, prevented further casualties or wounded," he said. This latest act of violence on a US 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' walls. The Army said it's investigating the shooting. There were still many unanswered questions, including the scope of the injuries and the shooter's motive. The injured were taken to the hospital and three underwent surgery, officials said. Army records released to The Associated Press show that Radford enlisted in January 2018. He worked as a supply sergeant and has not been deployed. Radford faced an Aug. 20 hearing in Hinesville, a small town near the base, on accusations of driving under the influence and running a red light just after 1 am on May 18, according to a citation and court filing. He was given a blood test and freed on a $1,818 bond, the documents said. Law enforcement was sent to the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team complex shortly before 11 am The shooter was arrested at 11:35 am, 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. 'Most modern land fighting force' 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 by land area. It's home to thousands of soldiers assigned to the Army's 3rd Infantry Division and family members. President Donald Trump called the shooter a "horrible person" in comments to reporters at the White House. The FBI was at the fort to help investigate, said Deputy Director Dan Bongino. Partner service Learn French with Gymglish Thanks to a daily lesson, an original story and a personalized correction, in 15 minutes per day. Among the deadliest acts of violence on US military bases was a 2009 attack. A US 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 the 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 US Navy sailor shot two people to death before killing himself at Pearl Harbor, the Naval station in Hawaii.
