Speaker 1 (00:00):
… brigade combat team footprint. In just a moment, I'm going to introduce you to Brigadier General John Lubas. That's spelled J-O-H-N, Lubas, L-U-B-A-S. He's the commanding general of the 3rd Infantry Division. Brigadier General Lubas will make a statement regarding the incident and take a few brief questions.
(00:31)
Before we begin, however, I'd like to go over just a couple of things with you. We have limited time for questions, given that this is an ongoing investigation, and we may not have all the information that we can share, but we will try to be as transparent as possible.
(00:48)
We will not release the name of any victims until the next of kin notification has been complete. We will not speculate as to any intentions, motives or backstories, given that this is an ongoing investigation. When you ask your questions, we ask that you please give your name and the affiliation in case we need to do a follow-up. And it's a little hard to hear, so please speak up so that General Lubas can hear you and that you can hear him.
(01:18)
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. I will now turn it over to General Lubas.
Brigadier General John Lubas (01:22):
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for joining us. This morning, shortly before 11 o'clock, an active-duty soldier, assigned to Fort Stewart, Georgia, shot and wounded five of his fellow soldiers here on Fort Stewart. Thankfully, all are in stable condition and all are expected to recover. The alleged shooter is in custody, we have re-established security, I have lifted all lockdown measures on Fort Stewart, and there is currently no threat to the local community.
(02:03)
I'd like to recognize and thank our Army law enforcement and medical personnel, and our partners from local, state and federal law enforcement and emergency services for their quick response and support. I would also like to thank the brave soldiers who immediately intervened and subdued the shooter. These soldiers, without a doubt, prevented further casualties.
(02:26)
Our wounded soldiers were initially evacuated to Winn Army Community Hospital right here on Fort Stewart. All arrived in stable condition, and three of the five required surgical intervention. Two have been transported to Memorial Hospital in Savannah, Georgia for additional care. We have identified the alleged shooter as Sergeant Quornelius Radford, an automated logistics sergeant assigned to 2nd Brigade Combat Team. Sergeant Radford has not previously deployed to combat. Sergeant Radford has been 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.
(03:11)
Right now, our primary focus is first on caring for our injured soldiers and their families, and also supporting the soldiers of the Spartan Brigade. All of the families of the victims have been notified, and we're wrapping our arms around them and ensuring we provide them all the support that we can. Before I take questions, I want to remind you that this is an ongoing investigation and we're still gathering questions. And ladies and gentlemen, I'll now take your questions.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
General Lubas, [inaudible 00:03:38] can you give us what unit he was assigned to and how long he served in the Army? You didn't mention that.
Brigadier General John Lubas (03:43):
Yeah. He is assigned to one of our sustainment units here in 2nd Brigade Combat Team at Fort Stewart, and I will have to confirm how long he's served with us.
(03:57)
Yes, sir.
Russ Bynum (03:57):
Russ Bynum with the Associated Press. As best you can, knowing it's still early, can you walk us through where this happened, what happened in the shooting, and were the victims subordinates of the sergeant or were they people over him in rank?
Brigadier General John Lubas (04:11):
Yeah. Right now it's premature and we're gathering a lot of the information. What we know is the shooting occurred at this soldier's place of work, it did involve his co-workers. We're still not certain about the motivations, but again, he's been interviewed by Army investigators, and we believe we'll gain more information here shortly.
(04:31)
Yes, ma'am.
Speaker 5 (04:36):
Do you know if this was any kind of training exercise, or were they cleaning any weapons, anything that you know so far?
Brigadier General John Lubas (04:38):
No, ma'am, we don't have any reason to believe it had anything to do with a training event. Other than that, I can't state the motivations for this soldier.
(04:46)
Yes, sir.
Speaker 6 (04:47):
We've heard that the shooter may have been from Jacksonville, Florida. Are you able to confirm that? We also heard that he's maybe been arrested for a DUI recently.
Brigadier General John Lubas (04:56):
Yeah, at this point, I can't confirm where he's from. We can follow up on that. 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.
Speaker 7 (05:12):
[inaudible 00:05:11] Can you tell us whether or not that was a military weapon or whether this was a personal weapon [inaudible 00:05:17]
Brigadier General John Lubas (05:18):
Yes, ma'am. I can confirm it was not a military weapon and we believe it was a personal handgun.
(05:25)
Yes, sir.
Speaker 8 (05:30):
[inaudible 00:05:26] What does this mean for ongoing security measures that this situation was able to occur?
Brigadier General John Lubas (05:33):
Yeah, I'm very confident in the security of this installation. We've got a great partnership with local law enforcement. As you can see here at our gates, we have armed guards in protective equipment. This one's a bit difficult and we're going to have to determine how he was able to get a handgun to his place of duty.
Speaker 9 (05:57):
[inaudible 00:05:56] Has the suspect had any prior disciplinary or behavioral issues on base?
Brigadier General John Lubas (06:01):
No, ma'am, not that we're aware of, but again, it's early in the investigation, but not that I'm currently aware of.
Speaker 10 (06:06):
[inaudible 00:06:07] You mentioned that some soldiers helped to subdue him. Do you know [inaudible 00:06:12]
Brigadier General John Lubas (06:16):
I don't have the details on that, but I know that his 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.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
And we've got time for one more question.
Speaker 11 (06:34):
I know that you can't speak to the motivation, but if this turns out to be some situation where somebody had extreme beliefs or maybe classified as a terrorist attack, I mean, how does that change the basis of response or the basis investigation moving forward?
Brigadier General John Lubas (06:50):
Yeah, currently we have no reason to believe any of that is the case. However, we continuously assess the threat environment both in the immediate area and across our Army and DoD installations and we will address the threat level accordingly.
Speaker 12 (07:04):
Do you have the rank of the shooter?
Brigadier General John Lubas (07:05):
Yes, sir. He was a sergeant.
(07:09)
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your questions, and again, thanks to the local responders and the local community for their help. Thanks, and have a great afternoon.
Speaker 13 (07:15):
Thank you, sir.
Speaker 12 (07:15):
Thank you, sir.
Speaker 13 (07:16):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Hey, I'm going to give you the proper spelling of … Oops, excuse me. I'm going to give you the spelling of the assailant. The first name is Quornelius. It's spelled Q-U-O-R-N-E-L-I-U-S. Last name is Radford, R-A-D-F-O-R-D, Radford. He's 28 years old.
Speaker 14 (07:51):
There was some mention he was 2nd logistics. I didn't get all of that.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Yeah, so he is a …
Speaker 15 (07:57):
Automated.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Automated Logistics Sergeant, a 92 Alpha.
Speaker 15 (08:06):
With 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
With 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team. Hey, I'm going to come off the podium now, but if you guys have additional questions that I can help …