House Majority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) was shot by a gunman in Alexandria, Virginia at 7:30 EST during a congressional baseball practice, a congressional aide has said. Several of the staffers present also said to have been hit. Rep. Roger Williams (R-TX) injured his leg from falling during the incident but was not hit.
25 members of Congress were said to have been present at the baseball practice.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) told Fox News that the gunman has been shot by police, and that a staffer used his belt to stop Scalise’s bleeding. Alexandria PD claims the suspect is now “believed to be in custody”. President Trump has now announced that the shooter has died of his injuries.
The identity of the gunman has not yet been revealed, but some on social media have suggested it could be an ANTIFA supporter. It is alleged that the shooter is James Hodgkinson, a self-described ‘democratic socialist’, supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) and member of several left-leaning Facebook groups such as ‘Rachel Maddow for President 2020’, ‘Democrats Are Welcome’ and ‘The Road to Hell is Paved With Republicans’.
The shooter has been described as a “middle-aged white male” by Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL), who was wearing “blue shirt and jeans” according to Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ). The gunman is said to have started with a rifle and then moved on a pistol according to Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH).
Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) said a man walked up to the group of Congressmen at the baseball practice and asked whether they were Republicans or Democrats.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who was in the batting cage at the time, told MSNBC that there was a “rapid succession of shots – five or ten shots”, and the situation “would have been a massacre” if it were not for the police response to the shooting. According to Brooks, “50+ shots” were fired by the shooter and “5 hit”.
Rep. Mark Walker (R-NC) told The Liberty Conservative that the “gunman was there to kill as many Republican members as possible” and he is “grateful to Capitol Hill Police” for their response.
This story is still developing.
