A suspect is in custody after a shooting that killed one soldier at Fort Stewart, Georgia, on Monday morning.
The shooting occurred around 10 a.m. at one of the 3rd Infantry Division's 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team buildings, according to a spokesperson with the installation.
The suspect's identity was not released by the service, and the identity of the dead soldier is being withheld until after the next of kin are notified. There were no reports of additional injuries.
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"The suspect in the shooting was apprehended by Fort Stewart law enforcement at the scene and transferred to U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division's custody," the spokesperson told Military.com in a statement. "The investigation is ongoing and no additional information is being released at this time. There is no active threat to the community."
Security on bases is typically limited to identification checks at entrances, and soldiers are very rarely armed on duty, aside from security personnel such as military police and civilian authorities.
In 2020, Spc. Austin J. Hawk was found stabbed to death in his barracks on the base, and in 2021, two fellow soldiers were charged with his murder in what would appear to be the most recent violent death at the facility. Byron Booker pleaded guilty to federal murder charges, and Jordan Brown pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon.
Active shooter drills have become more commonplace on bases in recent years, as they have across American institutions.
Last year, Fort Meade, Maryland, undertook an active shooter drill in which public affairs officials used their public facing social media accounts for the mass shooting training, posting details of a fictional shooting without properly disclosing it was a drill. That prompted media outlets, including Military.com, to call base officials. Those officials thought the journalists were role players, leading to a wave of reports on a fake shooting.
While shootings on base are rare, there have been several mass shootings that have shaped base security efforts. The deadliest mass shooting occurred in 2009 when U.S. Army major Nidal Hasan killed 13 people and wounded 32 others at Fort Hood, Texas. He was shot and paralyzed from the waist down.
Fort Hood had another shooting in 2014 when Army Spc. Ivan Lopez killed three people and injured another 14. He shot himself after being confronted by military police.
In December 2019, there were two unrelated shooting rampages in one week in which a total of five people were killed. One took place at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard in Hawaii by a sailor who killed two civilian workers and injured a third before taking his own life. Just days later, a Saudi national killed three U.S. sailors and wounded eight others; al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility.
-- Steve Beynon can be reached at Steve.Beynon@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @StevenBeynon.
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