Five United States soldiers were hospitalized on Wednesday following a shooting incident at the Army’s Fort Stewart, located approximately 30 miles southwest of Savannah, Georgia. The attack led to a comprehensive lockdown of the installation, alongside at least six nearby schools. All five soldiers sustained gunshot wounds, according to an official post on the verified Facebook page for Fort Stewart and its associated Hunter Army Airfield. Their injuries, though initially unclear in extent, necessitated their transport to Winn Army Community Hospital.
Authorities have identified the suspect as an Army sergeant, Quornelius Radford, aged 28. He is alive and currently in custody. Radford, an automated logistics sergeant assigned to the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team (ABCT), was apprehended at 11:35 a.m., nearly 40 minutes after Fort Stewart initiated its lockdown. The incident unfolded within the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team area, as detailed in the Facebook post.
Brig. Gen. John Lubas, the commander of the 3rd Infantry Division and Fort Stewart, addressed reporters, confirming that all five victims are in “stable condition” and are “expected to recover.” He added that three of the wounded soldiers required surgery, with two transported to Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah, the sole Level 1 trauma center in coastal Georgia. Helicopters were unavailable for transport due to local weather conditions.
Fort Stewart officials confirmed that emergency medical personnel were dispatched to treat the wounded soldiers at 11:09 a.m., shortly after shots rang out at 10:56 a.m. The swift response extended beyond medical aid, as soldiers who witnessed the attack acted immediately. Brig. Gen. Lubas praised their actions, stating, “Soldiers in the area that witnessed the shooting immediately, and without hesitation, tackled the soldier, subdued him, and allowed law enforcement to then take him into custody.” He emphasized that “These soldiers, without a doubt, prevented further casualties.”
Sgt. Radford, from Jacksonville, Florida, enlisted in the regular Army as an Automated Logistical Specialist in January 2018. The Army noted that he has never been deployed. He is currently held in pre-trial confinement following his arrest. Investigations revealed that Radford had been arrested on May 18, 2025, by the Georgia Department of Public Safety for driving under the influence and failing to obey a traffic control device, an incident which Brig. Gen. Lubas stated was “unknown to his chain of command until the event occurred.”
The shooting took place at Radford’s workplace within the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team (ABCT) area and involved his co-workers. Officials believe Radford used a “personal handgun” rather than a military weapon in the assault. While the motive remains unknown, some community members have expressed perspectives on the pressures faced by soldiers.
Francesca Elmer, who lives near Fort Stewart with her husband, a soldier stationed on the base, expressed her reaction to the news. After calling her husband to ensure his safety, Elmer stated she was “a little shocked right now and can’t really talk,” but added, “I am not surprised.” In a Facebook comment, Elmer wrote, “too often, (soldiers) are placed under unrealistic stress, heavy demands, long hours, and unfair treatment.” She further cited training in poor weather conditions, unsanitary environments, and high competition between peers, concluding, “Under those conditions, anyone could reach a breaking point.”
The chaos of the active shooter situation extended beyond the immediate scene on the military installation. A lockdown was issued for the entire Fort Stewart complex, including its associated Hunter Army Airfield, Wright Army Airfield, and Evans Army Airfield. An unidentified soldier posted a video on TikTok, partially livestreaming the incident, which showed uniformed soldiers running towards a door during the lockdown before taking shelter inside a building labeled 12919, sitting on the floor in the dark as they awaited updates.
At least six nearby schools were placed on lockdown as a precautionary measure. These included three elementary schools located directly on base at Fort Stewart: James H. Diamon Elementary School, Kessler Elementary School, and Murray Elementary School. According to the Associated Press, citing comments from the superintendent to WTOC, these on-base schools collectively serve nearly 1,400 students. Michael O’Day, Americas Communication Director with the Department of Defense Education Activity, affirmed that at no point was there “any danger to the students or staff, and all are safe.”
Three additional schools within the Liberty County School System also went into soft lockdown: Button Gwinnett Elementary, Joseph Martin Elementary, and Snelson Golden Middle School. This incident occurred on what was scheduled to be students’ first day back in class for some. The district announced the soft lockdown “out of an abundance of caution” via a Facebook post. Furthermore, all schools in Appling County, located over 20 miles from Fort Stewart, were also placed under a Level 1 lockdown before being lifted around 1 p.m. The lockdowns for Fort Stewart’s on-base schools were lifted around 12:30 p.m. Eastern, and the full post was declared “all clear” just before 2 p.m. Eastern.
Fort Stewart is a sprawling military installation in southeast Georgia, covering 279,270 acres, which includes parts of six counties, making it the largest Army post east of the Mississippi River. The site stretches approximately 39 miles across from east to west and 19 miles from north to south, encompassing an array of training and housing facilities. It serves as the home of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, with more than 10,000 people residing on the post, including active duty troops, family members, and Army civilian employees. Together, Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield, located in Savannah, employ over 25,000 people. The base’s history dates back to 1940 when it commenced operations as an anti-aircraft training facility, steadily growing in size and population over the decades.
This incident adds to a troubling pattern of gun violence in the United States, marking one of more than 260 mass shootings that have occurred in 2025 so far, according to the Gun Violence Archive (GVA). GVA, consistent with CNN’s definition, defines a mass shooting as an incident in which four or more people are shot, excluding the shooter. Recent incidents cited by the archive include shootings at a Midtown Manhattan skyscraper on Park Avenue and a neighborhood bar in rural Montana.
Military installations, intended as highly secure environments, have unfortunately been the site of several soldier-on-soldier mass shootings in recent decades, raising persistent concerns about safety and security within the armed forces. In 2009, an Army psychiatrist with radical Islamist beliefs opened fire at a processing center at Fort Hood in Texas, resulting in 13 fatalities and 32 injuries. Four years later, in 2013, a 34-year-old military contractor described as having “delusional” beliefs, opened fire at the Washington Navy Yard, killing 12 people and wounding three others.
Further incidents include a 2014 shooting at Fort Hood where an Army specialist killed three soldiers and injured 12 others before dying by suicide. In 2019, a foreign flight training officer from Saudi Arabia killed three Navy sailors and wounded eight others at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida; investigators determined the shooter harbored jihadist beliefs. Just days earlier in 2019, a U.S. Navy sailor shot two people to death before killing himself at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Notably, Wednesday’s shooting is the second in recent years to occur in the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team’s workspace at Fort Stewart, following an incident in December 2022 where a fellow soldier shot and killed Sgt. Nathan Hillman.
