By Jack Phillips
The man suspected of opening fire at Fort Stewart on Wednesday morning and injuring five soldiers was identified as U.S. Army Sgt. Quornelius Radford, officials said.
Brig. Gen. John Lubas, the commanding general of the 3rd Infantry Division, confirmed that Radford, an active-duty soldier, was the suspect.
“This morning, shortly before 11:00, an active duty soldier assigned to Fort Stewart, Georgia, shot and wounded five of his fellow soldiers,” he said in a Wednesday afternoon news conference. “Thankfully, all are in stable condition and all are expected to recover.” Three of the victims underwent surgery, he said.
The shooter opened fire inside the base, officials said. Soldiers who witnessed the shooting “immediately and without hesitation” tackled the shooter, Lubas said.
“That allowed law enforcement to then take him into custody,” he added at a press event.
He did not provide details on Radford’s possible motive. The incident is not believed to be connected to an Army training event, he said.
“We’re still not certain about the motivation, but again, he’s been interviewed by Army investigators and we believe we’ll gain more information here shortly,” Lubas said.
Radford had used his own handgun and not a military-issued firearm, Lubas told reporters. He didn’t elaborate on how Radford allegedly was able to bring his personal firearm onto the base.
“I can confirm it was not a military weapon. And we believe it was a personal handgun,” he told reporters.
Also in the press conference, Lubas said that Army officials were not aware of an arrest where Radford was allegedly driving under the influence. He was asked about reports that cited anonymous police sources that had claimed Radford was arrested for a DUI.
“I do believe he was arrested locally for a DUI. That was unknown to his chain of command until the event occurred and we started looking into the law enforcement databases,” he said.
The injured were treated and then moved to Winn Army Community Hospital, base officials said in a Facebook post, adding there’s no threat to the community.
Some of the wounded were also taken to Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah, said spokesperson Bryna Gordon. The hospital is the top-level trauma center for coastal Georgia. Gordon said she didn’t know how many people were being taken to the hospital or their medical status.
Law enforcement was sent to the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team complex shortly before 11 a.m. Wednesday. The shooter was arrested at 11:35 a.m., officials said.
Located about 40 miles southwest of Savannah, Fort Stewart is the largest Army post east of the Mississippi River. It’s home to thousands of soldiers assigned to the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division as well as their family members.
The FBI was at the fort to help investigate, said FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino in a statement on social media. He did not provide any more details about the response or the investigation.
Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) were also sent to the scene, the ATF said in a post on X.
White House and Pentagon officials said President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had been briefed on the shooting.
Wednesday’s shooting isn’t the first on a U.S. military base. In 2009, a U.S. 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 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 four people and wounding more than a dozen others before the gunman killed himself.
Five years later, in 2019, an aviation student opened fire in a classroom at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida, killing four people and injuring eight, including two sheriff’s deputies. Just days before that incident, a Navy sailor shot two people to death before killing himself at Pearl Harbor, the Naval station in Hawaii.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
