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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
ARTICLE VIEW:
US military bases are fortresses that guard against external threats.
But what happens when the threat comes from within?
By Ray Sanchez, CNN
Updated:
4:30 AM EDT, Sat August 9, 2025
Source: CNN
Fort Stewart in Georgia houses the US Army’s vaunted 3rd Infantry
Division, a premier fighting force roughly 20,000 soldiers strong.
It was at the headquarters of the division’s 2nd Armored Brigade
Combat Team, described by the Army as its armored brigade combat unit
— formidably equipped with tanks and modern artillery systems —
where five soldiers were wounded Wednesday when authorities said a
28-year-old active-duty sergeant pulled out a personal weapon and
opened fire.
The latest shooting at a US military fortress long accustomed to
guarding against external threats demonstrates that no amount of
physical security can totally protect soldiers when the threat comes
from within, according to experts.
“I just don’t think there’s any way to ever prepare for every
single possible insider threat,” said Robert Capovilla, a former
military prosecutor and partner in a law firm representing current and
former service members.
Still, the violence has renewed concerns about the safety of American
service members at facilities where they live, train and work. And,
when coupled with in recent years, the rarity of such incidents offers
little solace to the victims and families of soldiers hurt or killed by
other service members.
For Nichole Hillman — whose husband Nathan, an Army sergeant with the
2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, was at Fort Stewart in 2022 — the
latest shooting was “terrifying and completely heartbreaking.”
Nathan Hillman and the alleged gunman both served in the 2nd Armored
Brigade Combat Team, nicknamed the Spartan Brigade.
“I was sick over it, as it brought back so much pain and fear, and
had me reliving one of the absolute worst days of my life,” she told
CNN via Facebook Messenger.
“Our soldiers shouldn’t have to fear going to work. They should be
able to know 100% for a fact they are safe.”
‘Their response clearly had been practiced’
The military has mandated active shooter and “insider threat”
training following a series of deadly mass shootings at American bases,
including one in in Texas, in which 13 people and an unborn child were
killed and more than 30 others wounded.
At Fort Stewart on Wednesday, authorities said, unarmed soldiers ran
toward the sound of gunshots and tackled the suspect, subduing him and
halting a shooting Army Secretary Dan Driscoll said could have been
much more severe were it not for their bravery.
“Under duress and fire, they ran into battle to the sound of the
gunfire, took down the assailant, and then took care of their comrades.
And that made all the difference,” Driscoll said Thursday at Fort
Stewart, where he awarded six soldiers the Meritorious Service Medal
for their actions.
“We commit to you that anything we discover during the investigation
that can make this base and other bases like it safer, we will act on
as quickly as possible,” Driscoll added.
“We are constantly looking at our security protocols at all of our
bases … We absolutely will want to learn from this investigation. We
do not want something like this to ever happen again at an Army
base.”
Last year, Fort Stewart’s military police an active shooter and
hostage rescue exercise. The drills have been routine at US military
bases for years and include topics such as what to do before, during
and after an active shooter incident. On Wednesday, Fort Stewart was
briefly put on lockdown.
“The fact that the base was put on lockdown so quickly shows that the
installation had practiced this kind of an event, and they knew what
procedures they needed to implement in order to minimize the impact of
this active shooter incident,” said Cedric Leighton, a retired Air
Force colonel and CNN military analyst. “The response clearly had
been practiced.”
The motive for the shooting was not known. A law enforcement official
briefed on the case told CNN the shooter, identified as Quornelius
Samentrio Radford, had a disagreement with one of the victims on
Tuesday. He followed that coworker to a maintenance area and shot him
in the chest before shooting four others on Wednesday. It’s unclear
what the disagreement was about.
Law enforcement responded at 10:56 a.m. ET, according to a Facebook
post from Fort Stewart Hunter Army Airfield. Less than 10 minutes
later, the base was locked down. Emergency personnel were sent to treat
the victims at 11:09 a.m., the post said.
The unarmed soldiers who intervened “prevented further casualties”
by tackling Radford, allowing police to arrest him, said Brig. Gen.
John Lubas, Fort Stewart’s senior commander.
The soldiers handled the scene like a “battle drill,” according to
Lt. Col. Mike Sanford, the commander of the 703rd Brigade Support
Battalion.
instructs soldiers on what to do before, during, and after shootings
— including helping others evacuate, not moving the wounded, creating
barricades and, as a last resort, using “whatever means possible to
overpower the subject to save further lives.”
Military bases have on the possession and storage of personal weapons.
“I’m not sure by allowing soldiers to carry their personal firearms
with them in a professional capacity while they’re doing their jobs
prevents what happened at Fort Stewart,” Capovilla said.
“Our military personnel that live and work on military installations,
by and large, I would consider them to be in highly secure and safe
facilities.”
Fort Hood shooting forced military to look at ‘insider threats’
The November 5, 2009, shooting at Fort Hood by an with forced the
military to evaluate “not just the tactical-level response that
happened at Fort Hood specifically, but also the processes and systems
and policies that were in place for the Department of Defense as a
whole that could have led to what happened,” Mary “Chris” Frels,
deputy provost marshal for US Army North said one year after the
shooting.
After Fort Hood, Frels said, the military reevaluated its risk
assessment process to consider both internal and external threats.
A huge part of the training involves in colleagues who may be spiraling
— which could be early warning signs of a potential “insider
threat.” The risk indicators range from declining performance rating
to demotions, from threats of violence to suicidal ideation to criminal
behavior.
Authorities this week would not speculate about Radford’s motives. He
had not deployed to a combat zone and had no known behavioral incidents
on his military record, Lubas said.
The general acknowledged Radford was arrested on suspicion of driving
under the influence in May. Radford’s chain of command was unaware of
the arrest prior to Wednesday’s shooting, Lubas said.
The suspect’s father, Eddie Radford, told he had not noticed unusual
behavior by his son recently. He did not know what might have motivated
the shooting, but said his son had complained about racism at Fort
Stewart and had been seeking a transfer, according to the Times, which
did not cite any specifics. CNN has reached out to Eddie Radford for
more information.
Fort Stewart declined to comment on the racism allegation and whether
Radford had requested a transfer. “The circumstances that led to the
events today are currently under investigation,” a spokesperson for
the 3rd Infantry Division told CNN.
Authorities are unsure how Radford got his personal firearm through the
base’s high security before carrying out the shooting, although
personnel with authorized access are typically not searched en masse
unless an installation has . Carrying personal firearms on base is
typically prohibited.
“From a company, battalion, or brigade commander’s perspective, I
think it would be very hard to enforce good order and discipline if the
soldiers were allowed to carry their personal weapons with them at all
times,” Capovilla said.
Radford had texted his relatives at least 20 minutes before he , his
uncle, Joe Mitchell, told CNN affiliate : “I just want y’all to
know that I love y’all, and I tried my hardest to be the best I could
be.”
Radford’s military career began in 2018. Around the same time, he
started being bullied over his stutter, two former coworkers told .
Sneh Patel, an attorney who represented Radford during his DUI case,
also confirmed to CNN that Radford “has a stuttering condition,”
although he wouldn’t disclose much more due to client-attorney
privilege, he said.
“He got bullied a lot,” Sgt. Cameron Barrett, who became friends
with Radford during an Army training program, told NBC. “It was very
bad to the point where he could barely talk.”
In a video training course by the Defense Counterintelligence and
Security Agency, which handles security and risk management across the
Defense Department workforce, the narrator warns: “It is up to all of
us to be aware of potential signs and report what we see. You are your
organization’s first line of defense against someone who could do
harm.”
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