House Majority Whip Steve Scalise Shot in Alexandria, Virginia

By Terence Cullen, New York Daily News

14 June 17

 

top-ranking House congressman took a bullet to the hip early Wednesday when a lone gunman opened fire on a Congressional baseball practice in suburban Virginia.

Majority Whip Steve Scalise, 51, of Louisiana, was undergoing surgery three hours after the shooter started spraying the field with gunfire from behind a dugout shortly after 7 a.m., authorities said.

More than 50 shots were fired, with at least five people struck by bullets, before Capitol Police providing security for Scalise shot and wounded the attacker. Two of the officers were wounded.

The gunman — identified in media reports as James T. Hodgkinson, 66, of Belleville, Ill. — was taken into custody with non-life threatening injuries when the shooting stopped in Alexandria, Va.

“He was firing all over the place and there were a lot of rounds being fired," Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), who was attending the practice, told Fox News of the gunman.

Witnesses described Scalise taking grounders at second base during batting practice when the shots rang out. The wounded Congressman, blood spilling from his wound, dragged himself into the outfield grass to get away from the shooter, witnesses said.

As many as 25 members of Congress were on the field at the time of the shooting. Security was ramped up at the Capitol in the wake of the attack.

“It would have been a massacre” if the Capitol Police were not at the scene, said Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) to MSNBC. Scalise has round-the-clock security.

A member of Texas Rep. Roger Williams’ staff was among the injured.

Although no motive was given, Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) said he was leaving the practice around 7:10 a.m. when a man approached and asked whether Republicans or Democrats were on the field.

DeSantis said he thought it was an “odd” question. The shooter was described as a middle-aged white man, but his identity was not released by authorities.

Within minutes, Scalise was down as the gunfire escalated and other members of Congress scattered for cover at Eugene Simpson Stadium Park.

Scalise was listed in stable condition.

“Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, a true friend and patriot, was badly injured but will fully recover,” tweeted President Trump. “Our thoughts and prayers are with him.”

Trump’s only public event of the day, a visit to the Department of Labor, was canceled due to the shooting.

The politicians were practicing for an annual Thursday night game at Nationals Park.

“All of a sudden we heard a very loud shot,” said Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.). “The gunman was over by the third base dugout with a clear view of the field and everybody on it.”

Flake said the estimate of 50 gunshots was “an understatement. He had a lot of ammo.”

Wenstrup, a U.S. Army reserve doctor, said he rushed to Scalise to find his wounded colleague was coherent and thirsty.

Many lawmakers began to hide wherever possible as shots rang out on the open field. Williams (R-Texas) injured his leg as he dove into a dugout to safety.

Capitol Police assigned to Scalise began shooting at the gunman, whose sprayed the field with gunshots.

Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) was taking cover behind a plastic fence when he spotted a wounded Congressional staffer heading toward a dugout.

The Alabama Republican told CNN he ran to the dugout, took off his belt and wrapped it around the staffer’s bleeding leg.

Flake said a female member of Scalise’s security detail was helicoptered from the scene. A male security detail member was also shot — but returned fire and wounded the gunman, he said.

Paul said he and a staffer were in right field and had to scale several fences as the shooting intensified.

“He was up and over the 20-foot fence in about two seconds,” Paul told ABC News of the staffer. “I’ve never seen anybody climb a fence that fast in my life.”

Staffers usually attend the practice to help lawmakers take batting practice, Brooks said.