Trial wraps up: Judge to decide Fort Stewart shooters’ fate Thursday morning

HINESVILLE, Ga. (WTOC) - The second day of testimony in the military trial of Fort Stewart soldier Quornelius Radford wrapped up with all witnesses providing testimony for both the prosecution and defense, before closing arguments began.

Radford is accused of shooting at 6 people on the base. All five victims survived their injuries fortunately. The shooting happened August 6th, 2025.

Radford’s fiancé and all of the victims appeared in court for the entirety of the day and testimonies. Radford did not turn around once during the trial.

Witnesses describe encounters before shooting

Sgt. Marcus Mitchell testified that Radford showed him the gun outside of a building on Fort Stewart and told him to “go home.” The two had worked at buildings near each other.

Sgt. Anastasia Releford testified that she worked in the same building as Radford for a year and a half. She said on the day of the shooting a text was sent in her group chat that there was a shooting at the base, but no shooter was identified. The second message that was sent out was to lock everything up and go into lockdown mode.

Following that notification she saw Radford post lockdown attempting to get back into their building. He popped his head in the window, looking to gain entry.

She testified that she opened the door for him after recognizing him and didn’t consider that he was the shooter. She said his expression was described as like he was there, but not really there mentally.

She then saw the weapon being held by Radford at his side. Radford didn’t say anything and walked past her. She said after he walked past her, she believes he said he was looking for Sgt. Jones. & she ran out of the building.

Following her leaving their work building, she said she felt like someone was staring at her and so she turned around and Radford was looking at her in the breezeway between two buildings on Fort Stewart.

She tried to yell and warn people that Radford was the shooter, but then when she turned back around to look at him, Radford was tussling with someone else.

Soldier describes disarming Radford

Sgt. Aaron Turner provided the most compelling testimony of the day. He was the man who disarmed and took Radford into custody.

He was standing outside one of the work buildings and said Radford had a 1,000-yard stare and walked straight towards him. They worked together at the SSA so they were familiar to one another and even friends at one point.

He said he then saw Radford with a black Glock with an extended magazine.

He tried talking Radford down saying “it’s not worth it, what are you doing man?” Radford responded, “I’m not going after any soldiers. I’m going after leaders, go home.”

Turner said Radford had a stare on his face like he didn’t care what happpened from there. Turner then said he put himself in between Radford and a female sergeant so she could exit the building safely.

Radford started to walk off and Turner said he followed him and snuck up behind him and grabbed for the extended magazine to get the gun away from him. The two were wrestling over the gun.

Turner even tried to sympathize with Radford on an emotional level telling him “it’s not worth it, I just lost my mom and my teammates recently, it’s not worth it.” Radford responded that his mom passed when he was young and said he was going to go through with this action.

At that point in the struggle, the extended magazine came out, but Radford had a regular magazine as well and tried to put that in the gun.

Radford then turned the gun on himself and pointed it at his head. They wrestled again and Radford said “let me go, I want to kill myself, just let me kill myself.”

Another soldier came up and helped grab him from behind in a bear hug. At that point, Turner was able to wrestle the gun away and set it on the ground at a safe distance while taking the clips out.

Military Police came and cuffed him after that.

Immediately after, Military Police thought there was potentially a second shooter, Turner asked Radford if that were true. Radford responded, “Sergeant Turner, I wouldn’t lie to you. I was the only shooter. I shot at Jones and missed.”

Turner said Radford looked angry when having this conversation. Turner said Radford then said he shot also at Jeter, Garza, Friends, Latifu and his fiancé.

Turner said Radford was yelling and crying at military police saying “you should’ve let me kill myself.” He even told military police to kill him post detainment.

Additional soldiers testify

Sgt. Michael Gorham testified he doesn’t know Radford at all and works in a different area of the base. But he saw Radford running through the hallway in his building. A female ran through first and Radford was yelling for people to “go home.”

He said he then saw Radford leaving the leadership offices and heading towards his own work building. He said he saw Radford and Turner wrestling over the gun in a breezeway and snuck up behind him and bear hugged him.

All three men fell to the ground while he attempted to hold Radford down. He said Radford told him “kill me” after Turner secured the gun away from him.

Sgt. Randall Brown, a conservation law enforcement officer, testified he heard an alert over the radio system that there was an active shooter in the second brigade footprint.

When arriving to the scene in his car, he saw Radford already kneeling and two patrol officers over him.

He took possession of Radford to the rear side of his truck where Radford said to him, “they didn’t believe me. I told them I was going to kill myself. They didn’t believe me, so I took it upon myself to take as much life from them as I could.”

Brown said it started by Radford saying simply “they didn’t believe me” and Brown responding “what do you mean?”

The defense tried to argue this point and questioned Brown on cross-examination saying “is it possible he said the first half of that sentence but-- ‘so I’m going to take my life in front of them’ instead?”

Brown said it’s possible but unlikely.

Doctor testifies all injuries could have been fatal

Dr. Morgan Williamson, a diagnostic radiologist at Winn Army Hospital with 32 years of experience, was considered an expert in radiology. He reviewed images of four of the shooting victims. He said that all four gunshot wounds could’ve easily been fatal.

For Sgt. Latifu, the bullet grazed his left cheek and was 1 inch from his eyeball and 3 inches from his brain.

Garza’s wounds were at the center of his chest. Williamson mentioned pieces of metallic fragments left inside when he viewed the images. Garza was sent to Memorial Hospital as one of the most severe injuries that day. He testified that Garza was 2 inches away from having an immediate lethal injury.

For Jeter, he viewed her abdomen X-ray and found metallic fragments in her left lower side, just centimeters from her intestines and close to major arteries.

For Friends’ gunshot wound, he found tiny metallic fragments in her body, and the bullet was right near her spine. Her left lung was filled with blood, and her heart had actually shifted to the right because of so much blood filling her body. She also fractured a rib. The doctor testified he was surprised she was alive and that it wasn’t fatal. The bullet is still in her to this day.

The defense asked the doctor, “can you tell the difference between an intentional gunshot wound versus an accidental gunshot wound?” He replied no.

Special agent details Radford interview

The prosecution’s final witness was Special Agent Christopher Dowling, who interviewed Radford post-shooting. He said he read Radford his rights and Radford waived them and they spoke for an hour and a half in an interview.

He started questioning Radford about the night before the shooting. Radford told him he and his fiancée, Raekwon Smith, were having intimacy issues, and Radford failed to get an erection during sex. His partner expressed disappointment and Radford said he got into his own head and wanted to end it.

The agent asked him where his fiancé was now. Radford responded “he’s in the hospital because I shot him.”

Radford had a Glock 43X he purchased in Jacksonville. Radford admitted that he shot through the passenger side of his fiancé’s vehicle while the window was down. When he referenced shooting his fiancé, he said ‘bang’.

From there, he told the special agent that he walked into Jeter’s office and said “what’s up y’all?”

He perceived that Sgt. Justin Jones was smirking at his outfit because he was wearing a hoodie and OCP pants. Then he said he shot and said ‘bang’ when he shot them in the office.

Then he said to the special agent “I shot someone else in the room, but I don’t know who,” referencing the word ‘bang’ again.

Radford continued explaining the events of that day, saying he turned left after leaving that office and saw someone moving in the orderly room, then fired a shot there, again saying ‘bang’. He left the hallway and someone was peeking out. He said he shot them and said ‘bang’ again both to the special agent, and during the shooting.

Radford said he went down a hallway and was slow jogging at this point and came out the back area headed to his work building when he ran into several sets of soldiers who he told “go home you don’t want to be here”. He described the other soldiers he saw but didn’t shoot.

He headed to the SSA building where he works and peaked in. Someone let him in and he told them to go home.

He said one of his coworkers and a fellow soldier, Sgt. Turner, who Radford referenced as a “good guy,” asked him what was wrong. Radford responded “I’m tired just go home.” He said he had suicidal meaning behind that and that people weren’t picking up what he was saying.

From there, Turner tried to grab the gun and Radford explained it exactly how Turner had previously testified. When asked why he didn’t shoot Turner he responded “that was not my target, leadership and my partner was my target.”

There was also some discussion in court about a previous argument between Jeter and Radford referencing a field issue where he didn’t want to go out to a field exercise because he was in a sling. He sat around and did nothing the entire time anyway, prosecutors said.

There was also mention of him telling Sgt. Jones that he was suicidal, but only in the phrase of “I’m tired.”

Radford said Jones wasn’t getting it. He said he felt he was brushed off and Jones was super religious, and tried to help make Radford feel better-- giving him a good pep talk, but it didn’t go through and turn his feelings around.

When asked if he intended on killing anyone, he said no initially. The special agent asked him the rule of guns. Radford responded “you don’t point at anything you don’t plan to kill or destroy.”

The special agent testified that Radford started by telling him his life story and that his whole life he has been unhappy, he has financial issues and other legal issues going on and tried to be happy for everyone, but he couldn’t.

He told the special agent that Jones tried to cheer him up, but that didn’t work.

In the interview Radford said multiple times he didn’t intend to kill anyone. He later said that Jeter wasn’t the intended target but the goal that day was to die and he wanted to die in a shootout with police.

The special agent asked him if he shot Jeter, isnt it implied that he either wanted to kill or destroy her? Radford responded yes.

The government rested after that point.

Defense calls Radford’s grandmother

The defense then called Radford’s maternal grandmother, Joanne Mitchell from Jacksonville. Her five-minute testimony was mostly regarding family tragedy.

She testified that Radford’s mom passed away on Aug. 5, 2005 from suicide when Radford was 9 years old. The anniversary of his mom’s death was the day before the shooting, and it would’ve been the 20-year anniversary.

Radford’s sister died two years ago from a drunk driver.

She also testified that the family lied to Radford pretty much his entire life about the way his mom died, and it wasn’t until the last few years when they told him the real cause of death for his mother.

Radford didn’t testify. The judge confirmed that was his personal decision. Radford responded yes.

Closing arguments presented

Closing arguments began after that with the government going first leading off with “if you shoot, you shoot to kill.”

They showed all of the injury photos of all of the victims. The government told the judge common sense says in these areas of the body that you’re shooting at-- you shot to kill them. Reiterating there’s no other common sense explanation.

They referenced Dr. Williamson saying each shot could’ve been fatal. They also went over intent to kill instructions: if a person does an intentional act, the inferred results of the intentional act are intentional.

They said Radford knows the rule of firearms. He didn’t ask twice what the first rule is, even quoting that when you shoot something, the intent is to kill or destroy it.

They also referenced the determination of Radford showing car pictures of him driving onto post and his fiancé trying to stop him twice.

They also referenced the five people he encountered and told to go home and didn’t shoot, implying that this was a targeted shooting.

They also mentioned premeditation with the route and design that Radford didn’t shoot his fiancé at their home, that he drove directly to work. The prosecutor said the main motive was anger and bitterness.

Radford also called a friend, Darius Crenshaw, on the way to base. They said he didn’t take his own life at his house and couldn’t be deterred by anyone.

He didn’t cause any issues at the gate that could’ve led to him dying by cop, but stopped the car in the middle of the road outside of his bosses’ office, prosecutors say... Emphasizing that only leadership were targets.

The prosecutor said Radord thought his fiancée, Smith was going to stop him from heading to his superiors, so he shot his own partner.

They also mentioned that the smiling and phrase in greeting he gave his superiors was cold and calculated, and that Radford didn’t know how to put his issues to the side, calling it premeditated and specific. “He couldn’t be deterred.”

In the defense’s closing, they said Radford wanted one person to die that day, himself.

“He may not have cared if the other victims lived or died, but he didn’t shoot to kill them,” defense attorneys argued.

“He could’ve shot his fiancé in the parking lot yes and it’s difficult to understand why someone would do this, but he was going through an active mental crisis mixed with depression.” the defense continued.

They also referenced Radford not feeling heard when he tried to reach out for help.

The judge said he will rewatch the full interview that Radford had with the special agent and deliberate for a reasonable hour on Wednesday night along with Thursday morning.

A verdict or a decision is expected by Thursday morning. That will be followed with sentencing.

WTOC will be there to bring you the very latest.