An active-duty Army sergeant was taken into custody Wednesday on suspicion of opening fire at his workplace on the sprawling Fort Stewart military base in Georgia, wounding five of his fellow soldiers, authorities said.
The suspect, identified as Sgt. Quornelius Samentrio Radford, 28, was subdued by nearby soldiers after he began shooting with a personal handgun, striking coworkers, according to Brig. Gen. John Lubas, the commanding general of the 3rd Infantry Division.
All five soldiers are in stable condition, Lubas said at a news conference Wednesday. Radford’s motive is not known.
The shooting is among at least 262 mass shootings in the US so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive. It comes within days of shootings at a Midtown Manhattan skyscraper and a neighborhood bar in rural Montana that left multiple people dead.
Here’s what we know:
Radford had a disagreement with one of the shooting victims on Tuesday, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the case. He followed that coworker to a maintenance area and shot him in the chest before shooting four others.
It’s unclear what the disagreement was about.
Other soldiers “prevented further casualties” by tackling Radford before police arrested him, Lubas said.
“Soldiers in the area that witnessed the shooting immediately and without hesitation tackled the soldier, subdued him. That allowed law enforcement to then take him into custody,” he said.
Radford, a native of Jacksonville, Florida, joined the Army in 2018 as an automated logistical specialist and was assigned to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, the US Army said. His role involved handling supplies and warehouse operations.
Lubas said Radford had not deployed to a combat zone and had no known behavioral incidents in his military record. However, the general acknowledged that Radford had been arrested for driving under the influence in May – an arrest that his chain of command was unaware of prior to the shooting.
The DUI arrest “was unknown to his chain of command until the event occurred, and we started looking into the law enforcement databases,” Lubas said.
Personal handgun used in shooting
Radford used a personal handgun – not a military weapon – in the shooting, Lubas said.
The firearm is a 9mm Glock that the suspect bought in Florida in May, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the case. The gun was recovered at the scene along with numerous shell casings, the official said.
Authorities are unsure how Radford got the gun through the base’s high security before carrying out the shooting at his place of work.
“At our gates, we have armed guards and protective equipment,” Lubas said. “We’re going to have to determine how he was able to get a handgun to his place of duty.”
Carrying personal firearms on base is typically prohibited by military regulations.
The US Army’s Fort Stewart trains and deploys active and reserve Army units.
Law enforcement was dispatched to the incident at 10:56 a.m. ET, according to a social media post from Fort Stewart Hunter Army Airfield. Less than ten minutes later, the base was locked down.
At 11:09 a.m., emergency personnel were sent to treat the five soldiers who were shot.
While all five soldiers are in stable condition, three of them required surgery, Lubas said, confirming that the shooting did include Radford’s coworkers.
Radford was apprehended at 11:35 a.m., the Fort Stewart social media post said.
The lockdown of the “main cantonment area” was lifted 35 minutes after that, according to the post.
Since the shooting, Radford has been interviewed by the Army Criminal Investigation Division and now sits in pretrial confinement as he waits for a charging decision by the Office of the Special Trial Counsel, Lubas said Wednesday afternoon.
In addition to military training grounds, Fort Stewart is home to thousands of families who live on base with their family members assigned there. The base supports more than 10,000 people, including soldiers, family members and Army civilian employees, according to the Army.
The shooting happened in an area of the base that houses the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, also known as the Spartan Brigade.
The brigade was first constituted in 1917 in North Carolina, and entered combat during World War I, according to an archived Army webpage. Though the Spartan Brigade was disbanded before World War II due to Army reorganization, several of its units participated in key American maneuvers during the war.
In 1963, the Spartan Brigade was reconstituted and has since been positioned in Germany, Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan and throughout Africa for military strikes, humanitarian assistance and reconstruction efforts.
In 2016, the Army chose the Spartan Brigade to convert to the 15th Armored Brigade Combat Team, a modernized tank brigade, according to the page and Army press releases.
Following Wednesday’s shooting, authorities said they’d prioritize the well-being of the victims and community at Fort Stewart.
“Our primary focus is first on caring for our injured soldiers and their families and also supporting the soldiers of the Spartan brigade,” Lubas said. “All of the families of the victims have been notified, wrapping our arms around them and ensuring we provide them all the support that we can.”
