Latest news with #MeritoriousServiceMedal
New York Post
21 hours 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.
New York Post
2 days ago
- New York Post
Fort Stewart shooter ‘got bullied a lot' for having stutter to the point he barely spoke, friends say
The Army sergeant accused of shooting five soldiers at a Georgia military base was a 'hard worker' who was previously bullied over a speech impediment, co-workers said, according to a report. Sgt. Quornelius Radford, 28, who allegedly opened fire on fellow soldiers at Fort Stewart Wednesday morning, was the target of bullying over a speech impediment while in Advanced Individual Training at Fort Lee in 2018, former Army pals told NBC News. 'He got bullied a lot,' Sgt. Cameron Barrett, 28, a friend of Radford's back in 2018, told the outlet. Advertisement 3 Sgt. Quornelius Radford, 28, allegedly opened fire at Fort Stewart Wednesday morning, injuring five soldiers. via REUTERS 'It was very bad to the point where he could barely talk.' Sgt. Carlos Coleman, who was in the same formation with Radford at Fort Lee, told the outlet that the alleged gunman went quiet after people mocked his stutter. Advertisement 'It was easy for those people to make fun of him for the way he spoke,' Coleman said. 'After that, he really didn't speak much.' 'I just saw him get quiet. I've never seen him angry. That's why I'm so surprised.' 3 Radford being escorted to the booking room of Liberty County Jail in Hinesville, Ga., on Wednesday. AP A former coworker, QuaSaondra Cobb, described Radford as a 'hard worker' who she would goof around with during lunch breaks, the news station reported. Advertisement All three said they were shocked when Bradford was identified as the quelled active shooter at the Georgia base. 'I just want to know what pushed him to that point,' Coleman said. Radford posted on Facebook on January 28 that a loved one was killed in a wrong-way car crash. The accused mass shooter wrote that he cried and drank alcohol to 'make that pain feeling go away,' NBC reported. In May, Radford was arrested for driving under the influence in Hinesville, Ga., a small town near the base. Advertisement 3 Army Secretary Dan Driscoll comforts Sergeant Aaron Turner after Turner received the Meritorious Service Medal with five other soldiers outside Fort Stewart in Georgia, Thursday, Aug. 6, 2025. AP The suspect sent a cryptic text message to his aunt just before the shooting, saying that '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. His father Eddie Radford told The Times that his son had been seeking a transfer off of Fort Stewart after experiencing racism at the base for years. The accused shooter enlisted in 2018 and has been stationed at Fort Stewart since 2022. Radford allegedly opened fire on coworkers in his unit, injuring five before being tackled and subdued by six unarmed Army soldiers on Wednesday. Those courageous soldiers received the Meritorious Service Medal on Thursday. All of the injured soldiers were transported to Winn Army Community Hospital and are expected to recover.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
6 soldiers heralded as heroes for stopping Ft. Stewart shooter, saving victims
United States Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll is commending the six soldiers who responded to the Fort Stewart shooting on Wednesday. The secretary held a news conference at Fort Stewart on Thursday morning where he awarded each of them the Meritorious Service Medal. Driscoll said one of the soldiers, who was not armed, tackled the suspected shooter, 28-year-old Quornelius Radford. Another of the soldiers jumped on top of Radford until law enforcement officials arrived. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] The other four soldiers immediately began assisting the five victims. They were identified as First Sgt. Joshua Arnold, Master Sgt. Justin Thomas, Staff Sgt. Melissa Taylor, Staff Sgt. Robert Pacheco, Sgt. Aaron Turner and Sgt. Eve Rodarte. Brig. Gen. John Lubas says of the five victims, three of them were released on Wednesday. One remains in good spirits and will hopefully be released from the hospital later this week. One female soldier remains at Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah and has 'a long road to recovery.' 'The fast action of these soldiers under stress and under trauma and under fire absolutely saved lives,' Driscoll said. 'They are everything that is good about this nation.' Driscoll said the recognition comes on behalf of President Donald Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance and U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Axios
2 days ago
- Axios
6 unarmed soldiers who tackled Fort Stewart gunman awarded medals
Six Fort Stewart soldiers who tackled and subdued a gunman during a mass shooting at the Georgia military base this week were awarded medals by Army Secretary Dan Driscoll on Thursday. What they're saying: "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 said at a briefing praising their heroism over Wednesday's incident that injured five people. "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," Driscoll said. "The heroism shown under fire is something that we should all aspire to know." Zoom in: Brig. Gen. John Lubas at the briefing praised those who quickly applied first aid to the wounded soldiers while waiting for ambulance crews to arrive. "When we spoke to the surgeons in the hospital, it was clear that the actions they 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 big picture: The six soldiers Driscoll awarded the Meritorious Service Medal to are: Sgt. Aaron Turner, Master Sgt. Justin Thomas, Staff Sgt. Robert Pacheco, Sgt. Eve Rodarte, 1st Sgt. Joshua Arnold and Sgt. Melissa Taylor. Three of the five injured soldiers have been released from the hospital, while two were still receiving treatment, per Lubas. The suspect, Sgt. Quornelius Radford, 28, has been placed in pretrial confinement.
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.
