The man suspected of shooting five of his fellow soldiers at Fort Stewart, Ga., on Wednesday morning has been identified as 28-year-old Army Sergeant Quornelius Radford, service officials revealed at a press conference.
Radford, an automated logistics sergeant assigned to 2nd Brigade Combat Team, used a personal handgun to open fire on other troops before he was subdued by service members, according to Brig. Gen. John Lubas, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division.
“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,” Lubas told reporters.
The incident, which took place in the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team area, caused a base-wide lockdown that lasted just more than an hour. Law enforcement agents were able to apprehend the shooter at 11:35 a.m. shortly after they were dispatched for a possible shooting at 10:56 a.m., officials said.
The shooting injured Radford’s co-workers, with three requiring surgery and two others transported to Memorial Hospital in Savannah for additional care. All five are in stable condition and expected to recover, according to Lubas.
He noted that Radford was interviewed by the Army Criminal Investigation Division and “is currently in pretrial confinement awaiting a charging decision by the Office of the Special Trial Counsel.”
Military officials are now looking into the motives of Radford, which remain unknown, as well as how he was able to bring a personal weapon onto the base. Lubas said that despite the shooting he is “very confident in the security of this installation.”
“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,” he said.
CNN reported earlier Tuesday that Radford had previously been arrested for driving under the influence in May, but his chain of command did not know of the arrest until after the shooting, Lubas said.
“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 told reporters.
Lubas also said that he’s not currently aware of any other disciplinary or behavioral problems with Radford.
