Army sergeant found guilty of attempted murder in Fort Stewart shootings in 2025

A military judge found Army Sgt. Quornelius S. Radford guilty of attempted murder on Thursday in the shootings that left five people wounded at Fort Stewart, Ga., in August 2025.

The conviction included two counts of attempted premeditated murder and four counts of attempted unpremeditated murder, according to the Associated Press and local news outlets. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Monday.

During a hearing in March, Radford said he was suicidal and was seeking a shootout with military police officers when he shot his civilian boyfriend and four fellow soldiers during the attack on his Fort Stewart logistics unit on Aug. 6, 2025. He pleaded guilty to domestic violence and aggravated assault charges.

Radford, 29, insisted he did not intend to kill anyone.

The judge, Army Col. Gregory Batdorff, accepted the plea, but prosecutors from the Army Office of Special Trial Counsel said then they intended to try Radford on attempted murder charges, which carry a potential life sentence. Prosecutors accused Radford of targeting leaders of his unit when he opened fire with a personal handgun. They also argued that Radford knew from his military firearms training never to shoot at anyone unless he meant to kill them.

Radford told Batdorff he had been arguing with his live-in boyfriend, Raekwon Smith, the morning of Aug. 6, 2025, when he grabbed his personal Glock 19 handgun and headed to the headquarters of his unit, the 703rd Brigade Support Battalion of the 3rd Infantry Division’s 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team.

The soldier intended to shoot two of his noncommissioned officers, he told the judge. But Smith, apparently intent on stopping Radford’s assault, followed him onto Fort Stewart in his vehicle. After exiting his car, Radford turned and fired a shot into Smith’s car, hitting him in the chest.

“I didn’t intend to harm him,” Radford said. “But I didn’t care if I harmed him.”

The soldier then walked into the 703rd headquarters building and entered 1st Sgt. Taniesha Jeter’s office, where he shot her once in the stomach before turning his weapon toward his platoon sergeant, Sgt. 1st Class Justin Jones, and firing once more. The round missed Jones and instead struck Staff Sgt. Luis Garza in the chest.

Radford testified he then fired a third shot from the office doorway when he heard a noise coming from the next room over. That round struck Staff Sgt. Arysa Friends in the arm and entered the side of her body, he said.

After firing those shots, Radford said he began jogging down a hallway and was startled when a door opened.

“I blindly fired a round into that door,” he told Batdorff.

The round struck the doorframe, sending shrapnel flying into Sgt. Abdulbakai Latifu’s face, leaving a permanent scar.

Radford was tackled and disarmed by other soldiers shortly after firing that last shot. Those soldiers received commendations the following day from Army Secretary Dan Driscoll.

All the shooting victims survived the assault, but Jeter’s injuries will force her to retire from the Army, officials said.

Radford enlisted in the Army in 2018 as an automated logistics specialist, according to the Army. He served at Fort Hood, Texas, and in South Korea before joining his unit at Fort Stewart in November 2022.

Contributing: Stars and Stripes reporter Corey Dickstein