Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Soon: Army Officials Give Update After Shooting at Fort Stewart; Five Soldiers Shot at Fort Stewart in Georgia; Suspect Apprehended; Army Gives Update on Shooting at Fort Stewart. Aired 3- 3:30p ET

Aired August 06, 2025 - 15:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And we are standing by for an update coming here shortly on the breaking news that we've been following this afternoon. Army officials preparing to give a press conference here in the next half hour on the shooting at Fort Stewart in Southern Georgia.

Here's what we know so far: Officials say the shooter is a 28-year-old Army sergeant who had recently had a run-in with law enforcement. A traffic stop in May that led to an arrest for driving under the influence. He is now in custody after officials say he shot five other soldiers today. And we just learned from a state official two of the wounded were transported to Savannah where they have a Level 1 Trauma Center.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: It was a chaotic situation at Fort Stewart this morning. We understand that gunfire sparked a lockdown as police responded to the active shooter situation. A lockdown that has since been lifted. Here is how it sounded for first responders in the initial aftermath.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Medic Station 1, Medic Station 1, Mutual aid request for 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.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 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)

SANCHEZ: Let's get right to CNN's Isabel Rosales. Isabel, we are set to hear from officials within the next - less than 30 minutes. What more are you learning at this point about what happened and possibly the status of those victims? ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. We're hoping to get more

details at that 3:30 press conference as to the extent of the injuries for these soldiers. Let me run you through what happened here ...

KEILAR: Isabel, we're going to let you - you're having a mic problem, so we're going to let you pull that back up and just interrupt us when you have that set up. But I just want to let our viewers know some of what we have just found out, which is that this is a 28-year-old male Army sergeant. And we don't know at this point the connection between the alleged shooter and the victims at this point. But there are five of them also soldiers. There is a local hospital there. Three of them were treated there. Two have gone - been taken to Savannah for, I guess, more acute treatment. They have a Level 1 Trauma Center there.

Isabel, can you hear me?

ROSALES: Yes, I can.

KEILAR: Okay.

ROSALES: My apologies for that with the audio issue. But to pick up on what you were saying, Brianna, we know that at least two people have been transferred to Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah. As you mentioned, that is a Level 1 Trauma Center, indicating that they have the capacity, the resources, the training there to deal with the worst of the worst, the most serious situations, including anyone who's been shot, right?

So, they are getting the help that they need there. They were originally treated on site before they were transferred. Let me roll back a little bit, give you the timeline of events here. We know that at 10:56 A.M., law enforcement were dispatched to the Army base getting a call of a possible shooting happening at the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team Complex.

Now, this particular unit, this is a part of the 3rd Infantry Division there at Fort Stewart, they would be the ones training with heavy armored vehicles. So, things like armored tanks, mechanized infantry units. The other name for this unit is the Spartan Brigade.

So, we know that roughly eight minutes after the gun was fired, the installation was put on lockdown.

[15:05:05]

So, this would have been 11:04 A.M. That has since been cleared. There is no lockdown here at the base.

Now, the shooter was apprehended at 11:35 A.M. That would have been 40 minutes since the shooting started. So, important here, again, for our audience who might be just tuning in now and trying to get the details here, there is no active threat to the community. We have learned more about the shooter via our colleague John Miller, who spoke with a law enforcement source.

Again, that suspected shooter is an Army sergeant. He is a male. He is alive. He is in custody. We don't know if he's talking to investigators there. He's 28 years old from Jacksonville, Florida. And we do know that he is known to law enforcement. He was arrested back in May at a traffic stop for driving under the influence.

So, we're keeping our eyes now to this press conference that should be starting here in about 25 minutes. We'll be hearing from Brig. Gen. John Lubas. He is the 3rd Infantry Division and Fort Stewart Hunter Army Airfield Commander. Hopefully we will get more information as to the status of these soldiers, these five soldiers that were shot, the extent of the injuries, perhaps even more information about the suspected shooter, his - any potential connections to the Army base, perhaps even a name. So, stand by on that.

SANCHEZ: Isabel Rosales, thank you so much for bringing us the latest there.

Let's actually talk to someone who was on the base when the shooting happened. We're joined now by Ron Peavey. He's a truck driver who was making a delivery there this morning.

Ron, thank you for being with us.

From my understanding, you were dropping off a delivery. You dropped it off. You got back in your truck. And as you were leaving, you say that all hell broke loose. Walk us through what you saw and what was going through your mind.

RON PEAVEY, WITNESS TO FORT STEWART SHOOTING: Yes, I guess the best way to describe it, being a truck driver for the 30 years I've been, it was reminiscent of what happened after 9/11. I was on the road then, and the same thing happened, the whole world just went quiet. It shut down. Nobody knew what was going on.

In the few minutes it took me to get to - from the delivery to that north gate where people who are stationed there would go to Savannah, and it was pretty active. There was a lot of people going out that gate, probably going to Savannah.

Everything stopped. I was the first truck at that gate, and they just shut it down. And the people in the cars knew less than I did. I didn't know anything, neither did they. They just wouldn't let us out. And slowly they started turning them around. In an 18-wheeler, I couldn't do what they did, but I had to get out.

They got mad that I got out of my truck. I couldn't figure out what to do. They had county law enforcement on the other side of the gate, base police on inside, but when I got out, they just told me to turn around. They had to stop the cars for me to turn around. I went back to the PX or the commissary, the only place I knew to go.

And between that gate and back there, there was no one else on the base, except for when I got to the PX. There was two food delivery - I mean, food trucks, a Mexican and an Asian food truck, and a couple soldiers were still there. We had nowhere to go. We were the ones that got stuck out in public. There was no one else there. The people in the buildings were locked in. We were locked out. There was no one else there. And all you seen and heard was the law enforcement whizzing by. And for the 30 minutes or so, you - we didn't know what to do, where to go. About 40 minutes into it.

Initially, my thought was we were at war with Russia. That was my - I was actually kind of relieved that we weren't, but I'm thinking World War III started while I was on the base. And about 40 minutes into it is when - even the - I'm relieved that nobody got killed, because in the rumor mill, you know how things get spread around, the soldiers that were at those food trucks were telling me they heard five people were killed, there was one shooter that got caught, and one was barricaded in. I guess that was a false report.

But nobody knew until about 40 minutes into it, one of them - the base police pulled up and informed all of us that we couldn't be standing there anymore, that there was an active shooter, that we had to get into our vehicles. And it was when we were walking back to the vehicles is when he also announced, okay, hold on, it's over, you guys can leave now.

But nobody knew. The base just turned into a ghost town for almost an hour, and there was no warnings, no sirens, nobody knew what was going on.

SANCHEZ: Yes, it sounds like an ordeal as we await to find out the exact status of those five shooting victims, those five soldiers. Ron Peavey, thank you so much for sharing your story with us.

PEAVEY: My pleasure.

KEILAR: And we should note, obviously, he was talking about there being this sort of rumor mill, which is not uncommon, but what we know at this point is that five soldiers have been shot. That is all we have learned. We have not heard anything about fatalities. We have heard there are casualties, three of them treated there locally, two of them going to the Level 1 Trauma Center in Savannah, and the suspect, a 28-year-old Army sergeant in this case, has been apprehended.

[15:10:03]

We are awaiting some details, especially we want to know about those two victims who were transported to Savannah. And we're hoping to learn that very soon here in the next 20 minutes or so as the Army is going to give an update on the shooting there at Fort Stewart.

Let's bring in Michael Alcazar, retired New York Police Department detective.

Michael, what questions do you have at this point as we're awaiting this press conference?

MICHAEL ALCAZAR, RETIRED NYPD DETECTIVE: Yes, similar to your earlier guess, I'm wondering how did this perpetrator have access to the weapon. You know, he's a sergeant. Was this a potentially a training incident, where they were training with these weapons and then, you know, something happened. I want to know if there's any kind of notes left, you know, any kind of information that will tell us why he did this. Was this random or did he target certain individuals. It's going to be very challenging to process this crime scene because it's an Army base, so it's a lot of information that, you know, we have to process as law enforcement.

I know the - I believe the military and FBI are taking the lead, so a lot of information to process, a lot of crime scene to preserve.

SANCHEZ: Yes, I also - we heard our experts earlier talk about the importance of determining exactly who these victims were in relation to the shooter. Can you expand on that process and how they go about determining the kinds of relationships that were at play to determine if this was a targeted shooting?

ALCAZAR: I mean, we're going to go through his history, as mentioned earlier, right? This guy was collared for a Dewey (ph). So, was he on a modified assignment? Did he have any kind of communications with the military, any kind of email history? So, what - you know, there's a lot to go through, right? There was electronic information, anything that he might have relayed to the Army and the Army relayed back to him.

So, I mean, potentially this could have been just random, but, you know, it is a military base. They probably all live together and they know each other. So, it's possible that he did target certain individuals. And I'm sure the press conference will reveal that information very shortly.

KEILAR: Yes. And that is what we are looking at there to the right of the screen. You're seeing the lectern set up there. Local news outlets are getting ready as we await information from the Army. You know, obviously, we want to know, I think, kind of the timeline here. Right. You have questions about this DUI, but we also want to know if there were other encounters and just the track record that this individual may have had in their employment in the military. Right, Michael?

ALCAZAR: Yes, correct. You know, as we process the crime scene, we want to know very oftentimes when active shooters are apprehended, there's manifestos. Did this guy have any kind of like mental issues. There's a lot of questions I have. And again, I'm sure they'll hopefully be revealed in the next few minutes.

SANCHEZ: And, Michael, as you reflect on the timeline which we're putting up on the screen now, it was a very short amount of time. It was roughly 39 minutes or so between law enforcement being dispatched for a possible shooting until the exact time at 11:35 A.M. that the shooter was apprehended. I wonder what that tells you about the level of preparedness at Fort Stewart and scenarios that may have played out when law enforcement actually encountered him.

ALCAZAR: I mean, statistically, most active shooters are over in like five minutes, right? So, this is a pretty quick response, maybe because the military police were right on scene. If they responded right away and apprehended the individual or did he surrender or did other - I mean, so many questions, right? Did other soldiers apprehend him? So, again, I have lots of questions. It is a credit to the response time. And it would have been more challenging for local law enforcement to enter this base, especially if they're wearing uniforms and, you know, they all look similar. And how do they identify the perpetrator?

So, again, we'll find out who exactly placed this individual in custody. And credit to them for stopping the threat very quickly.

KEILAR: Yes, credit to them.

All right, Michael, thank you so much. If you could stand by for us.

We are awaiting this press conference. The Army is going to give an update on this shooting at Fort Stewart. At this point, five soldiers have been shot, two transported to a trauma - a Level 1 Trauma Center. So, a lot of questions about what kind of condition they're in. We're going to track that and we'll get more information for you after a quick break.

[15:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:19:20]

SANCHEZ: Back to our breaking news. A shooting at Fort Stewart in Georgia. Five soldiers shot. We know at least two of them have been transferred to a Level 1 Trauma Center in nearby Savannah. Meantime, the suspect has been apprehended, and we've learned that the suspected shooter is a 28-year-old Army sergeant, one who is known to law enforcement, having had contact with them at least once in recent months in May when he was apparently arrested for driving under the influence.

We have Josh Campbell with us now tracking all of this.

And, Josh, I think that at this point, law enforcement, safe to say, is trying to piece together a potential motive here.

[15:20:00]

Talk to us about the commonalities between what we're seeing here, some of what is coming together from the information that we have now, and past mass shootings that can inform how law enforcement is piecing this together.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, as you mentioned, I mean, we're still awaiting that motive, but sadly we have seen so many mass shootings in this country that the FBI, their famed profilers, have actually studied these in order to try to determine are there trends, are there certain red flags that people should be on the lookout for?

And it's worth pointing out a couple things. First of all, you know, there's this misnomer that, well, someone just snapped and then committed some act of violence. What the FBI profilers say is that in almost every case, the shooter doesn't just snap. There's this what they call a pathway to violence where someone starts building into the actual point where they will decide to act with violence.

And some things that they look for, which may have implications here, particularly as it relates to this arrest for driving while under the influence, is that the FBI studied these shooters, and certain ones they describe as grievance collectors, you know, someone who feels that they have been slighted. Maybe there's some type of stressor on their life that they're going through. I can tell you as it relates to the U.S. military, if someone has been arrested for something like a DUI, the military takes that very seriously.

There are various forms of punishment that the service could met out, and that includes what's called nonjudicial punishment, you know, administrative actions. Maybe you get knocked down grades and rank, and then it escalates to more serious, obviously, criminal matters as well, depending on the nature of the actual incident. But this is something that can be catastrophic to one's career, depending on the circumstances.

And, again, we don't yet know specifically if that was even a factor here or what the individual was thinking or what the motive was. But when I first heard that reporting about this DUI arrest from our colleague John Miller, that - as someone who had served in the military, that's the first thing that stood out to me, is that that could have potential consequences on one's career. That could be a circumstance here we are obviously waiting to see. It's worth pointing out that because the suspect is now in custody, he is alive, that means there is the potential that officials - investigators could actually interview him to try to get to that motive.

You know, he may invoke his right to counsel and decide that he does not want to actually speak with investigators, in which case that there are all these other investigative actions that they would take, including looking, you know, were there any writings from him, anything in electronic devices. They'll also want to interview other people who are in his command to try to determine, you know, what was this person like, were there any indicators that this person may have been suffering, you know, from some type of personal issue that then manifests that we see here today. Again, that doesn't excuse it, obviously, but this is something that investigators will try to look at, again, to try to determine what were - was there a sign in advance that something like this could have happened and what may have been the reason.

KEILAR: Yes, very good point there, Josh.

And we are awaiting right now an update from the U.S. Army. You can see that on the right side of your screen as they are getting ready there at Fort Stewart to update the media.

Josh, thank you so much.

We are going to get in a quick break. We'll be right back and try to bring you this press conference as soon as it begins.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:27:52]

KEILAR: All right, we are following our breaking news out of Fort Stewart, Georgia, where five soldiers have been shot. And we are awaiting a press conference from officials there from the Army. We're expecting to hear from the commanding general of the 3rd Infantry Division, which Fort Stewart is home to. Let's go to Natasha Bertrand at the Pentagon ahead of this press conference.

Natasha, what are we hoping to learn?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there are so many unanswered questions about this attack, which took place earlier today. And we're hoping to get more information from this press conference. But what we know now, of course, is that five soldiers were shot. It's unclear by whom at this point, except for what we know about them at this point, which is only that they are a 28-year-old sergeant. It's unclear whether they were stationed at this base, whether they came onto the base, whether they knew their targets, or whether this was simply a target of opportunity.

But, you know, one of the other big questions that we're awaiting an answer to is just how this individual was able to access this weapon on this military base. Typically, these kinds of weapons are very carefully stored ...

SANCHEZ: Let go to Georgia. Let's listen in to this press conference starting imminently. Let's listen.

BERTRAND: ... when it comes - yes.

LT. COL. ANGEL TOMKO, SPOKESPERSON, ARMY 3RD INFANTRY DIVISION: Last name is spelled - last name is Tomko, T-O-M-K-O. And I'm the spokesperson for the 3rd Infantry Division.

Today, we're here to discuss the incident that took place earlier today on the north side of Fort Stewart installation at the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team footprint.

In just a moment, I'm going to introduce you to Brig. Gen. John Lubas. That's spelled J-O-H-N, Lubas, L-U-B-A-S. He's the commanding general of the 3rd Infantry Division.

Brigadier General Lubas will make a statement regarding the incident and take a few brief questions. Before we begin, however, I'd like to go over just a couple things with you. We have limited time for questions given that this is an ongoing investigation.

[15:30:04]

And we may not have all the information that we can share, but we will try to be as transparent as possible.