Six unarmed US Army soldiers were hailed as heroes a day after tackling a crazed gunman who was “actively shooting their buddies” at Georgia’s Fort Stewart base.
The troops were hailed for saving countless lives after they quickly took down the suspect, fellow soldier Sgt. Quornelius Radford, when he allegedly opened fire at the base Wednesday — injuring five people.
“One of the soldiers tackled the person, so just think about this — they were unarmed and ran at and tackled an armed person who they knew was actively shooting their buddies, their colleagues, their fellow soldiers,” Army Secretary Dan Driscoll said as he detailed the horror.
Sgt. Quornelius Radford is accused of perpetrating a mass shooting at Fort Stewart. AP“Another soldier jumped on top of the person to subdue them until federal law enforcement was able to arrive.”
“The fast action of these soldiers under stress and under trauma and under fire absolutely saved lives from being lost,” he added.
The soldiers — First Sgt. Joshua Arnold, Master Sgt. Justin Thomas, Staff Sgt. Melissa Taylor, Staff Sgt. Robert Pacheco, Sgt. Aaron Turner and Sgt. Eve Rodarte — were all honored with bravery medals for their quick-thinking.
After taking out the gunman, several of the soldiers immediately started giving aid to their five wounded comrades before the victims were rushed to a hospital.
One of the injured soldiers has a “little bit longer road to recovery,” but all are expected to make a full recovery, Driscoll said – adding that three of the five have since been released from the hospital.
The suspect, meanwhile, remains in custody.
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll presented the soldiers with Meritorious Service Medals for the heroic actions. APThe Army said it was still too early to speculate on the motive for the shooting.
The alleged gunman’s father, Eddie Radford, told The New York Times that the sergeant had recently been trying to get a transfer and had complained to his family in the past of racism at the base where he’d been stationed for years.
He insisted that his son did not have a history of serious mental illness but had struggled in the past with depression after his mom died when he was a child.
The elder Radford added that the alleged perp had fired off a cryptic text to a relative right before the shooting — saying that “he loved everybody and that he’ll be in a better place because he was about to go and do something.”
