Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Five Soldiers Shot at Fort Stewart in Georgia, Shooter Apprehended; Law Enforcement Official Says Shooter at Fort Stewart is a Soldier. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired August 06, 2025 - 13:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:32:24]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": We are following breaking information out of Fort Stewart in Georgia where five soldiers had been shot in what was an active shooter situation. We understand from officials that the shooter has since been apprehended and large parts of the base, lockdowns have been lifted there. We also have a new tweet from Attorney General Pam Bondi on this shooting. She writes, "Our federal law enforcement agents in Georgia are coordinating to provide support as the situation at Fort Stewart develops. I'm praying for all of the victims and for our troops at the base."

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": And back with us now is Dan Brunner, Retired FBI Special Agent and the President of Brunner Sierra Group, along with Donell Harvin, former D.C. Chief of Homeland Security and Intelligence, and retired Air Force Colonel, Cedric Leighton with us as well.

Donell, talking a little bit about, as we look at this, and we should be very clear, we do not know who the suspect is at this point in time. What we do know is that when you look at recent shootings on military installations, it tends to be either a service member from the installation or a civilian contractor, and that is the pattern that we see. We don't know in this case what it is. But that, kept in mind, what can you tell us about insider threat detection and mitigation, which I know is something that you've done work on.

DONELL HARVIN, FORMER CHIEF OF HOMELAND SECURITY, WASHINGTON, D.C.: Absolutely. And as you said, we want to emphasize that we don't know. This is still breaking. But, one of the things from the after action from the Navy yard was that there were a lot of red flags from that shooter, who was a military contractor. He had psychiatric history; he had brushes with the law. And what they found was that while he went through an initial vetting process that was relatively rigorous, that every military or contractor would have to go through, there was no follow-ups. And there was no mechanism for coworkers or families to report some of the issues that they had.

And so in the aftermath of that shooting, the DOD placed a very, very robust program in a -- insider threat mitigation program that allowed for people to make reports of things that they saw. They put together an analysis team that's pretty robust. Think about it as a fusion intelligence center that could collect, analyze these kind of threat information streams and either deter or mitigate these threats. And so, irrespective of the cause of this shooter, where they came from, external or internal, there will be some lessons learned.

If this was an external threat, then the DOD would have to look at force protection and how individuals who aren't supposed to get on the base were able to get on the base.

[13:35:00]

If it was an insider threat, and once again, their threat detection program that looks at not just active military and reserves, but also contractors and people who are working on the base. They'll have to -- an opportunity to re-look at that program to see if they miss anything. Now, I'm not saying that anybody did anything wrong or that anything was missed, but there's still lessons learned in all of these incidents.

SANCHEZ: Colonel Leighton, as you hear about these protocols that have been put into place and the recent history of shootings at military installations, I wonder what your reaction is upon hearing that the response here from law enforcement and from officials at the base was swift and seemingly very quick and efficient.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yeah, Boris, I think what it basically shows is that they had a bunch of protocols in place that they could deal with active shooter situations like this one. And of course, they don't know what they're getting into as they respond to something like this. And as Donell was saying, either this is an insider threat or it's some kind of external threat. So, those could call for different types of responses and they have to be ready to basically bring both sets of tools, if you will, with them, either mentally or physically, when they go and respond to something like this.

What it also shows is that there was -- seems to be a great deal of cooperation between the on-base military police and the security forces that are assigned to protect the base, some of which are civilian contractors and the local civilian law enforcement agencies such as the Liberty County Sheriff and other county sheriffs and potentially other agencies. So, it's really a kind of a whole of government approach, if you will, when it comes to these types of situations. The response clearly had been practiced. The response was very quick. And I think it probably -- we'll probably find out that it ended up saving lives as more is understood about how this particular event unfolded and you know exactly what the cascading effects of it were.

KEILAR: And let's take a listen now as we are getting some of the emergency dispatch communications coming in here. Let's listen. This is what happened, and we know that the -- well, the shooter was apprehended at 11:35. It was 10:56 AM that law enforcement was dispatched for a possible shooting. And let's listen to some of those comms. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mag station 1, Mag Station 1, mutual aid request for a gunshot wound on Fort Stewart. It'll be building 84 22nd Brigade, 84 22nd Brigade, gunshot wound mutual aid.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Medic 3 will be in route. 10-4 rescue 3. There's possibly 5 patients. They have both of their EMS trucks on scene. The scene is clear, everything is secure. We don't know who has what, multiple people injured.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: And Dan Brunner, as you're listening to that, what do you take away from it?

DANIEL BRUNNER, RETIRED FBI SPECIAL AGENT: Well, I take away that there's obviously a lot going on. There's a lot of EMS, a lot of response, and there's a lot of parties that are all moving there. I've been a part of active shooter situations in New Jersey, and there's a lot of agencies, a lot of -- and people coming in at the same time. The fact that what -- one of your other viewers said is that there's been a lot of training, there's been a lot of preparedness for this since Fort Hood and every other act of shooting.

Each one of these parties know their job. They, they've done tabletop exercises, they've done, I'm sure, FTXs, field training exercises to walk through. OK, what is your role here? What is your job here? Remaining calm in the situation, responding to the scene, getting all the resources there. The fact that they already are responding to just what they -- what is being reported on the radio. So everything seems to be -- have moved smoothly and as quickly as possible. Fortunately, like I said, only five casualties at this time.

It doesn't appear like any fatalities and hopefully that everybody was working together. And that is actually what mitigated the threat. They were able to get in, close in the building, make sure that the threat is contained, and they were able to take the shoot apparently into custody.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, we certainly hope that things stand where they are right now and there are no fatalities. We're working to get the latest on the condition of these victims. Everyone, please stand by. We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, the latest from Fort Stewart in Georgia, where an active shooter has been apprehended after five soldiers were shot.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:44:20]

SANCHEZ: We are working to gather new information about this shooting at Fort Stewart in Georgia, not far from Savannah. We understand that soon, just before 11:00 a.m. this morning, an active shooter was reported and police were dispatched. We have a timeline of what took place. Within minutes, the installation was locked down, that emergency personnel were dispatched to help the wounded. We understand right now that there were five soldiers who were shot as of this moment. That is the last update that we have on their condition. No reported fatalities so far.

KEILAR: That's right. And we're looking here at the timeline from 10:56 a.m. when law enforcement was first dispatched shortly after the shooting, for report of a possible shooting all the way until about an hour and 15 minutes later when the lockdown was partially lifted after the shooter was apprehend.

[13:45:11]

Josh Campbell, you are still in the reserves. Talk a little bit about how installations like this prepare for these incidents. I mean, obviously a military base is an area that is a target. That's why it is secure for entry, right? There are limited points of entry. They are guarded very well. And so, in many cases like this, what you end up seeing as we still await to find out the identity of the shooter, is an insider threat which is something the bases like this are very sensitive to.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: That's absolutely right. And when we talk about security, we're talking about multiple layers. I mean, you see there, obviously at the exterior, you have gates, you have fencing and the like. You have the military police who train for these kind of things all the time. If there's some type of unauthorized breach onto this facility, how do they respond? They also coordinate oftentimes with local law enforcement as well, that would respond.

They also coordinate with local hospitals in the event that there is a mass casualty type situation. So everyone is on the same page whenever the alert goes out that we have patients, everyone is ready. But as you mentioned, it's the -- another perfect point. People inside the military are constantly trained on the notion of an insider threat because it's every person's responsibility in the military to understand what is happening around them.

And in fact, annually, they have what are called the CMTs, Common Military Training, where all personnel have to go through active shooter training. What do you do? How do you respond? Again, this is building that muscle memory. Where do you go? When law enforcement arrives, what do you do? But there's also training, as I mentioned in insider threat where certain ways and clues that you need to be on the lookout for to detect whether one of your colleagues, for example, is potentially facing some type of crisis, either mental health, some type of personal issue. Again, all of that is serving as those lines of defense to try to ensure that something like this doesn't happen.

Now, as you mentioned, we don't yet know the specifics on this individual. Was this an external threat? Whether this was someone internally? We do know that the person has been apprehended. And so, I imagine it would just be a matter of time if that person hasn't already been identified, that authorities would understand who this person is, and then work to determine, obviously, what was the motivation behind all of this. So, a lot of work ahead. We do know that of the victims, five victims were injured. We don't know the specific nature of those injuries. But as I mentioned, if they are indeed able to speak with investigators, they could be important sources of information as well, particularly if this shooter was someone who was known to people that were on that military installation. And so, again, there's a lot that happens in the planning for responding to some of these in what's the -- what are called the left of boom phase before anything actually transpires. Security personnel at the ready, all personnel understanding what to do if something like this were to happen. It looks as though the base has now been moved back into open status.

And so, we know the emergency phase is over, but a lot of work behind the scenes for investigators. And I think as, one of your guests had mentioned before, that all of these active shooter incidents are constantly studied. So if this does end up being some type of workplace shooting, someone who had an authorized purpose to be there, there will be investigators and military personnel drilling down into how this individual actually got to the point where they opted to use violence here on this facility. So again, a lot going on behind the scenes right now as authorities try to figure out what exactly happened here and why.

SANCHEZ: Yeah. And certainly, an investigation into motive and any potential red flags that may have come with what happened.

KEILAR: Yeah.

SANCHEZ: Josh, please stand by. I do want to let our viewers know, from the official Facebook page of Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield, they've just posted saying that the incident remains under investigation and no additional information will be released until the investigation is complete. We're, of course, going to work our sources to try to gather more information for you, including the status of those five soldiers who officials confirmed were shot.

Back with us now is Dan Brunner and retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton. Dan, talk to us about the FBI's role in this investigation because, obviously, there are a number of different law enforcement agencies and military police as well that are at the scene right now. What is it like walking into a scene like this, trying to gather information?

BRUNNER: It's quite hectic and it's quite chaotic. I've been involved in many mass incidents where there are numerous law enforcement agencies. In New Jersey, you have an incident, you could have 10, 12 agencies are all responding at the same time. But there will be one command center, there will be one incident command leadership, and that typically will be who is the senior most officer of the jurisdiction.

[13:50:00]

So in this case, would be the military police and then they would be handling -- they would be incident command until the situation transfers to an investigation. And at which point, that would become Army CID. Depending on if there is an external threat, I believe an FBI would be there to provide the resources, provide assistance, so victim assistance, evidence response, or other investigative capabilities, communications with other divisions. So, they're all right there at a crisis command center right now. Communications are being set up. All the information is flowing into one situation with one leadership.

They've trained for this, they practice this, they know what happens, and everyone knows their role. If it becomes more of a terrorist situation, then FBI would take over incident command or investigative command. And it is all transitioning. They practice for this, numerous agencies, all at the same time. There's a lot of people, but like Josh said, perfectly well, everyone knows their role because they've trained for this constantly and everyone knows their position. So, it is who is best in the situation to handle the situation at that time.

As soon as the active shooter's threat transitions to an investigative capability, and that's where the investigators will take over.

KEILAR: And Dan, we've just gotten some very important news in from our John Miller, our Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst. A law enforcement official says the shooter is indeed active duty military. So knowing that, I think that may confirm something that we suspected was a big possibility here. This tends to be the pattern when you're talking about an incident like this on the interior of a military installation. But knowing that now, officially, what are you thinking?

BRUNNER: Well, what I'm thinking that there's still a lot we don't know. There's still a lot, what are his motivations? Was this prior military? Was this active duty? Was he -- was he -- was that his building where he was working? I think that the fact that, which was previously said was that, that there was 40 minutes between initial response to an individual taken into custody. And also the fact that, allegedly we're understanding is this individual was taken into custody. So he didn't take his own life.

He didn't die by police shooting. He didn't confront law enforcement. He willing -- I don't know how he was, willingly or not willingly, but he was taken alive. So, that again shows the individual is more of an impulsive situation. This could have been a workplace situation that he was just angry at the situation. We don't know. There's a lot that we don't know. The mental health status, the family status of the individual, so there's a lot that we're going to find out. But agree, like I said, is -- this indication, the number of injuries, how long it took for -- to get custody, to me, it indicated it was a workplace shooting.

And fortunately, like I said, the individual is taken into custody and now we can learn from that and that will move forward. As Josh was saying, the FBI learns from each one of these incidents in where the red flags, how did his he get here on this pathway to violence? Why did he make these decisions? And understanding along those ways, so that we can find the indicators along the line and prevent that future -- a future shooting. SANCHEZ: Colonel Leighton, I'm curious to get your reaction to this reporting, to CNN's John Miller, a law enforcement official telling CNN that the shooter at Fort Stewart is a soldier.

LEIGHTON: Yeah, Boris, that's certainly concerning, but it's something that we all looked at as being a distinct possibility. So, as Dan was mentioning, now we have what amounts to the insider threat. And previously, as Donell was talking about, with the Navy yard shooting in Washington, the idea here is that there are certain stressors that may have provoked this type of shooting. We don't know that yet. Of course, in the particular case of the second Armored Brigade Combat Team, part of the Third Infantry Division, that unit has spent a lot of time in both Iraq and Afghanistan during those wars.

Now, those wars have kind of receded into our memory. So you wonder, was this something -- was this a person who had been with the unit for that long or had come back to the unit after serving another tour with another unit? We don't know those kinds of things. Was it a new soldier, somebody new to the unit, new to the army? Or is it somebody who is an experienced soldier, served more than one enlistment or two enlistments? So, this is the kind of area where a lot of more research and more reporting will have to be done.

But there clearly was some kind of issue that precipitated this, what that issue was will really determine how this investigation goes forward, and then what kind of lessons learned are called from that.

[13:55:00]

It's clearly a very unfortunate event. In this particular case, there may have been some kind of a stressor related to the military service. It could have been some kind of personal issue that spilled over into the workplace environment. We've seen that with civilian workforces. And this kind of thing can also happen in the military, obviously. But, it's a very, very critical component to this, that this is a soldier and appears to have been basically what amounts to an insider threat.

KEILAR: Yeah. Dan and Cedric, thank you so much for your insights there. As we continue to follow this, we're just learning our law enforcement official telling our John Miller that the shooter at Fort Stewart, who is alleged to have shot five soldiers, is themselves a soldier. We are going to continue to follow up on this. We just got this detail in. It raises many questions. We will be right back with more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)