Army: Ex-soldier takes 3 workers hostage at Fort Stewart hospital

A former Army soldier demanding behavioral treatment at a Georgia military hospital took three workers hostage at gunpoint today before authorities persuaded the gunman to surrender peacefully. Fort Stewart spokesman Kevin Larson said no one was hurt and no shots were fired in the short standoff at Winn Army Community Hospital on Fort Stewart, about 40 miles southwest of Savannah. The gunman was arrested by military police and was being questioned Monday afternoon. His name was not immediately released. Larson would only say the gunman was a former Army soldier who came into the emergency room asking for behavioral health care. The gunman walked into the hospital's emergency room at about 4 a.m. today carrying four guns, Larson said. He took one hospital employee, a soldier, hostage and headed to the building's behavioral treatment wing on the third floor. An Army nurse on duty in the behavioral health wing spotted the gunman and approached him to talk, Larson said. That nurse was then taken hostage along with another employee. ]Still, the nurse - an Army major who is a behavioral health specialist - was able to start calming the gunman. "He began to talk to the suspect and de-escalate the situation," Larson said. Military police soon arrived and surrounded the hospital. Army investigators trained in hostage negotiations worked their way to the same floor as the gunman. In less than two hours, they persuaded the gunman to put down his weapons and surrender. Because the suspect is a civilian and the standoff involved hostages, the FBI was called in to help with the investigation. It was unclear Monday what charges the man would face. Fort Stewart, the largest Army post east of the Mississippi River, is home to the 3rd Infantry Division. Most of the division's 19,000 soldiers are deployed to Iraq. It's the 3rd Infantry's fourth tour in Iraq since the war began in 2003. Larson declined to say what sort of behavioral problems the gunman was seeking help for, and said he didn't know if the man had been denied treatment previously. "He broke the law, obviously, and he threatened people" and would have to face the consequences, Larson said. "But we are going to get him the help for behavioral health."

Read more at Savannah Morning News