A soldier allegedly shot five members of his U.S. Army unit Wednesday morning at Fort Stewart near Georgia’s coast, prompting officials to temporarily place the post and public schools in two counties under lockdown.
Without identifying them, the military said the five wounded soldiers were in stable condition, though three required surgery. Two were transferred to Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah for additional care.
Brig. Gen. John Lubas, the 3rd Infantry Division’s commanding general, identified the alleged gunman as Sgt. Quornelius Radford, 28, an automated logistical sergeant from Jacksonville, Florida, assigned to the division’s 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team. Radford has been assigned to Fort Stewart since 2022 and has no previous combat deployments, according to the military.
Fellow soldiers tackled Radford at the scene, allowing law enforcement officers to arrest him, Lubas said.
“I would also like to thank the brave soldiers who immediately intervened and subdued the shooter,” Lubas told reporters at the post Wednesday afternoon. “These soldiers without a doubt prevented further casualties.”
Radford was in pre-trial confinement Wednesday afternoon. Authorities said the investigation into the shooting was ongoing.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Lubas said he was not aware of Radford experiencing any disciplinary or behavioral problems on the post. Radford, Lubas added, allegedly used a personal handgun in the shootings Wednesday.
“I am very confident in the security of this installation,” Lubas said. “This one is a bit difficult. And we are going to have to determine how he was able to get a handgun to his place of duty.”
At SPI Guns, a firearms store a couple of blocks south of the fort’s south gates, a manager told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that an official from the ATF called his shop in the hours after the shooting to inquire whether a gun recovered from the suspect had been purchased there.
“My understanding is, because the ATF called me, it was a Glock 43 that was used,” Gary Plunkett said. “They asked if we had any record of that particular Glock and they gave me the serial number but it didn’t come through us.”
Wednesday’s shootings happened at Fort Stewart’s 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team’s complex, which was the site of a deadly shooting in December of 2022. That month, Spc. Shay Wilson, 28, an infantryman assigned to brigade, was charged with murder after allegedly fatally shooting Sgt. Nathan M. Hillman, Army Times reported.
Other U.S. military installations in Georgia and other states have also experienced deadly shootings. In December, for example, a National Guard soldier was charged with murder for allegedly shooting a man at a former girlfriend’s residence at Fort Gordon in Augusta, according to an Associated Press report.
In December of 2019, a Saudi Air Force officer who was training at a Navy base in Pensacola, Florida, killed three U.S. sailors and wounded eight other people in a shooting that U.S. officials described as an act of terrorism, the AP reported.
Located near Hinesville, Fort Stewart is home to about 8,800 people and is the largest Army installation east of the Mississippi River, according to the U.S. Defense Department. The post supports about 15,000 active-duty soldiers, 16,000 family members, 5,100 military retirees and many others.
Fort Stewart also serves as the home of Lubas’ 3rd Infantry Division, which has deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. The division suffered the loss of four of its soldiers in March. At the time, they were operating an M88A2 Hercules armored vehicle during a training mission in eastern Lithuania. The M88A2 was discovered submerged in a bog.
On Wednesday, law enforcement officers were dispatched in response to reports of a possible shooting at 10:56 a.m. Eight minutes later, the base was locked down. At 11:09 a.m., emergency medical personnel were dispatched to the scene. The gunman was apprehended at 11:35 a.m. And the lockdown was lifted at 12:10 p.m.
The FBI’s Savannah office said on social media that it was coordinating with the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division.
President Donald Trump briefly spoke about the shooting at the White House, calling it an “atrocity” and saying “the entire nation is praying for the victims and their families.”
Meanwhile, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp announced he was staying in close contact with law enforcement.
“We are keeping the victims, their families, and all those who answer the call to serve in our hearts and prayers,” Kemp wrote on X, “and we ask that Georgians everywhere do the same.”
—AJC staff Alexis Stevens, Caroline Silva, Taylor Croft, Rosana Hughes and Jozsef Papp contributed reporting.
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