Army sergeant to face court-martial in Georgia base shooting that wounded 5

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A U.S. Army soldier accused of shooting five people at a Georgia base in August will stand trial in a military court on charges including attempting murder, Army prosecutors said Friday.

Charges against Sgt. Quornelius Radford are being referred to a general court-martial, which handles cases involving the most serious crimes under military law, the Army’s Office of Special Trial Counsel said in a news release.

Officials say Radford opened fire with a personal handgun Aug. 6 on members of his supply unit at Fort Stewart in southeast Georgia, injuring four soldiers and a civilian worker before fellow soldiers were able to disarm and restrain him until military police arrived. The Army initially said all five victims were soldiers.

A week after the shootings, Army prosecutors charged Radford with six counts of attempted murder and aggravated assault, with the sixth victim being a person the shooter fired at and missed.

Prosecutors also charged Radford with domestic violence because one of the victims was his “intimate partner,” Michelle McCaskill, a spokesperson for the Army prosecutors’ office, told The Associated Press in August.

It’s unknown whether Radford’s partner was among the five people wounded. The Army has not released the victims’ names.

Radford waived a preliminary hearing similar to a civilian grand jury to determined whether there was sufficient evidence to send his case to a court-martial. Army prosecutors say the next step will be for a military judge to be assigned to the case and schedule pretrial proceedings.

Radford was represented by Army attorneys from Fort Stewart’s Trial Defense Service during his first court appearance in August. That office did not immediately return phone and email messages Friday.

Fort Stewart officials have declined to comment on what led to the shooting.

Under military law, attempted murder carries a potential penalty of life imprisonment.

The largest Army post east of the Mississippi River, Fort Stewart is home to thousands of soldiers assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division. It is located about 40 miles (64 kilometers) southwest of Savannah.

Radford has been serving as a supply sergeant in the division’s 2nd Armored Brigade. Army records show he enlisted in 2018.

Soldiers in Radford’s unit said they followed the sound of gunfire into the hallways of an office building where they found hazy gun smoke in the air and wounded victims on the floor and in nearby offices.

Brig. Gen. John Lubas, the 3rd Infantry’s commander, credited soldiers with saving lives by immediately rendering first aid, in some cases using their bare hands to staunch bleeding gunshot wounds.

Army Secretary Dan Driscoll visited Fort Stewart the day after the shootings to award Meritorious Service Medals to six soldiers who helped restrain the gunman and treat the victims.