A U.S. Republican congressman is in critical condition—and four others wounded—after being shot at a baseball field near Washington, D.C., during a practice game.
The man responsible for the attack, identified by police as James Hodgkinson, 66, from Belleville, IL, was wounded and arrested at the scene. He died after being taken to hospital, President Donald Trump later announced during a press conference.
The FBI has said that it is too early to determine if the attack was an attempted political assassination or an act of terror.
According to police, the attack occurred just after 7 a.m. Wednesday morning as Republican members of the congressional baseball team practiced on a field in Alexandria, VA.
Rep. Steve Scalise, House Majority Whip and a Louisiana Republican, was standing at second base when gunfire erupted from behind a chain-linked fence. He was immediately struck in the hip and witnesses saw him “army crawl” toward higher grass.
A Republican staffer and a lobbyist were also shot as were two members of Scalise’s protective police detail as they exchanged gunfire with the shooter.
“In the field, I see Representative Scalise is shot but moving and he’s trying to drag himself through the dirt out into the outfield,” U.S. Senator and former Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul, who was also at the practice session, told media.
“There are two staffers. They were laying down,” recounted Paul. “Then I’m seeing the shots hitting the dirt around them.
“They had to make a difficult decision: Do we lay here and stay low and hope he doesn’t hit us? Or will the shooter just advance and come closer and shoot us?”
Hodgkinson’s brother, Michael Hodgkinson, told The New York Times, that his brother was unhappy with the recent election of President Trump and had traveled to Washington in recent weeks to protest.
“I know he wasn’t happy with the way things were going, the election results and stuff,” he said.
Top Comments
I'm sorry to the victims as well. Will be interesting how its framed in the media tho. White guy=mental health issues and just needs help. Black guy=thug and needs put in jail. Muslim/brown guy=terrorist. Seems to be the way:/
I'm very sorry for the victims.
I do want to point out that the shooter was convicted of family violence against his daughter and he also apparently owned the gun legally.
Same old story...terrorist or mass shooter or general scumbag running amok harming others, has DV history, gets slap on wrist/bail/parole and then goes on to harm strangers....