Congressman
Steve Scalise, the No. 3 Republican in the U.S. House of
Representatives, was
in critical condition on Wednesday night after he and three others were shot as
they practiced for a charity baseball game.
The gunman,
who had posted angry messages against President Donald Trump and other
Republicans on social media, opened fire on a group of Republican lawmakers and
colleagues at a baseball field in Alexandria, Virginia, outside Washington. He
was wounded in a gunfight with Capitol Hill police at the scene and later died.
Scalise was
shot in the left hip, suffering broken bones, injuries to internal organs and
severe bleeding.
He underwent
surgery but would need further operations, the MedStar Washington Hospital
Center said.
"Rep.
Steve Scalise, one of the truly great people, is in very tough shape - but he
is a real fighter. Pray for Steve!" Trump said on Twitter after visiting
the hospital on Wednesday night.
The gunman,
identified by police as 66-year-old James Hodgkinson from the St. Louis suburb
of Belleville, Illinois, fired repeatedly at the men playing on the baseball
field on Wednesday morning.
Congressmen
at the ballpark described hearing loud noises like the sound of firecrackers
and 15 to 20 people lying on the ground and realizing they had only baseball
bats to defend themselves against bullets.
"When
he started shooting, he was shooting to kill people. And thank God he wasn't a
very good shot," said Representative Joe Barton, the Republican team's
manager.
Also wounded
were a congressional aide and one former aide who now works as a lobbyist,
officials said. One Capitol Hill police officer suffered a gunshot wound and
another officer twisted an ankle and was released from a hospital, police said.
"It was
not only chaotic but it was a combat situation," Alexandria Police Chief
Mike Brown told reporters.
'IT'S GOT TO
STOP'
While police
and the Federal Bureau of Investigation said it was too early to determine
whether it was a deliberate political attack, the shooting intensified concerns
about the sharp divide and bitter rhetoric in U.S. politics.
FBI special
agent Tim Slater declined to comment on whether the gunman had a vendetta
against Republicans.
"We
continue to actively investigate the shooter's motives, acquaintances and
whereabouts that led to today's incidents," Slater told reporters. No one
else was in custody, he said.
The gunman
was believed to have been in the Alexandria area since March, Slater said.
Investigators believe that the suspect had been living out of his vehicle.
Wednesday's
shooting revived debate about gun rights in America. Virginia's Democratic
governor, Terry McAuliffe, urged gun control measures.
Scalise has
been a strong opponent of gun control measures.
Hodgkinson
had raged against Trump on social media and was a member of anti-Republican
groups on Facebook including, "The Road to Hell Is Paved With
Republicans," "Terminate The Republican Party," and "Donald
Trump is not my President," a search of his Facebook profile showed.
As
businessman Trump rose to become the Republican nominee in the 2016
presidential election, his brash style and outspoken views on immigration and
other policies led to mass protests, including on the weekend of his
inauguration in January.
The charity
ballgame between a Republican team and a Democratic team will go ahead as
scheduled on Thursday at Nationals Park, home of the Washington Nationals Major
League Baseball team.
Representative
Tim Ryan, who early on Wednesday was practicing for the ballgame with fellow
Democrats, told reporters that Washington politicians needed to cool their
rhetoric.
"We've
got to get back to ... where things aren't so personal and we're so judgmental
of each other. It's got to stop. A member of the U.S. Congress got shot because
they didn't like (his) political views," Ryan said.
CALLS FOR
UNITY
Trump, who
announced the gunman's death, called for unity. "We are strongest when we
are unified and when we work together for the common good," he said.
In a show of
bipartisanship, Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan said on the floor of the
House: "An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us." The
House's top Democrat, Nancy Pelosi, echoed Ryan's message.
The shooting
happened shortly after 7 a.m. There were 20 House members and two senators
present, and the shooting lasted about 10 minutes, said Barton.
Two
lawmakers who were at the scene, Representatives Ron DeSantis and Jeff Duncan,
indicated there might have been a political motive in the attack.
Duncan said
that as he left the field, the man who would later open fire approached him in
the parking lot. "He asked me who was practicing this morning, Republicans
or Democrats, and I said: 'That's the Republicans practicing,'" Duncan
told reporters. DeSantis gave a similar account.
Senator
Bernie Sanders, an independent who sought the 2016 Democratic presidential
nomination, said he had been told that Hodgkinson had served as a volunteer
with his campaign.
"Let me
be as clear as I can be: Violence of any kind is unacceptable in our society
and I condemn this action in the strongest possible terms," Sanders said.
Ryan, the
House speaker, is reviewing rules on how rank-and-file lawmakers can increase
their personal security, according to several lawmakers.
"Members
get threats on a regular basis and have trouble determining which are
real," House Democratic whip Steny Hoyer told reporters.
'HEROISM' OF
POLICE
The shooting
took place at Eugene Simpson Stadium Park in the Del Ray neighborhood of
Alexandria, across the Potomac River from Washington.
Representative
Mo Brooks told CNN that during batting practice, he heard a "bam" and
then a quick succession of shots and saw the gunman shooting through the holes
in a chain link fence.
When Scalise
was shot, he went down on the infield between first and second base, then
dragged himself into the grassy outfield as the incident unfolded, leaving a
trail of blood, Brooks said.
Two Capitol
police officers who were there to provide security for the lawmakers engaged
the gunman with pistols, Brooks said.
"But
for the Capitol police and the heroism they showed, it could very well have
been a large-scale massacre. All we would have had would have been baseball
bats versus a rifle. Those aren't good odds," Brooks said.
Wednesday's
attack was the first shooting of a member of Congress since January 2011, when
Democratic Representative Gabby Giffords was seriously wounded in an
assassination attempt at a gathering of constituents in Tucson, Arizona. Six
people were killed. Giffords resigned from Congress and became an activist for
gun restrictions.
REUTERS*
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