HUNTING REPUBLICANS
Trump-hater shoots GOP big, 3 others Both parties stunned by ballfield horror
Deranged liberal activist James Hodgkinson fired off more than 50 shots Wednesday, critically wounding House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (inset), before he was killed.
A GOP-LOATHING gunman turned a ballfield into a bloody battlefield, critically wounding the House majority whip in a Virginia shooting spree that targeted two dozen Republicans.
Scores of bullets tore across the diamond Wednesday morning, as lone shooter James Hodgkinson appeared behind the third base dugout and opened fire as lawmakers took batting practice for a charity baseball game.
Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), the third-ranking House Republican, remained in critical condition after a bullet to the hip knocked him flat near second base in the Alexandria, Va., ballpark.
The relentless attacker left Scalise, 51, bleeding in the dirt before he wounded three other victims on the hot and humid morning, authorities said.
“He had a lot of ammo,” said one politician.
Hodgkinson was killed by multiple police bullets, ending the furious five-minute fusillade with a wounded member of Scalise’s security team firing one of the fatal shots at 7:14 a.m.
“A ferocious gun battle,” said Alexandria Police Chief Michael Brown. “Quite frankly, it was not only chaotic. It was a combat situation.”
Politicians on both sides of the aisle expressed their horror over the shooting, and expressed hope that the tragedy might end the bitter partisan bickering of recent months.
Authorities said Hodgkinson acted alone, and offered no guesses at his motive. But the hard-core left-winger was a constant, vociferous critic of both the Republican Party and President Trump.
Rep. Brad Wenstrup, a former Army combat surgeon in Iraq, said the brutal and unexpected attack caused some flashbacks.
“You never expect a baseball field in America to feel like being back in a combat zone in Iraq,” said Wenstrup (R-Ohio). “But this morning it did.”
Witnesses said Hodgkinson fired as many as 50 shots, though FBI officials would not confirm those accounts.
Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (RTenn.) recounted how he and his colleagues, along with the son of Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tex.), clambered into the first base dugout — only to realize the spot offered zero protection.
“We were sitting ducks,” said Fleischmann. “There was blood all over the place . . . . It seemed like it took forever to subdue the shooter.”
The 66-year-old gunman, a retiree from Belleville, Ill., spent three months living in his van on the same block as Eugene Simpson Stadium Park in the Washington suburb.
Hodgkinson carried a rifle, a handgun and plenty of ammunition as he marched into the ballpark intent on the mass murder of Republican politicians.
Scalise, a huge baseball fan elected to Congress in 2008, was taking grounders at second base when the first shot rang out.
The wounded congressman, blood spilling from his wound, dragged himself into the outfield grass to get away from the shooter, witnesses said.
Scalise, after undergoing surgery, remained in critical condition at the MedStar Washington Hospital. Doctors believe he will require several more operations after the bullet traveled across his pelvis, fracturing bones, injuring internal organs and caused severe bleeding, the hospital said.
President Trump visited Scalise late Wednesday.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer described the scene in the intensive care unit as “emotional.” The President was joined by First Lady Melania Trump and White House doctor Ronny Jackson.
Two heroic Capitol Police officers, despite their own injuries during the gunfight, managed to take Hodgkinson down and end the gunfire.
Officer Crystal Griner, 32, suffered a bullet wound to her ankle, while colleague David Bailey was treated for injuries at a nearby hospital.
The Trumps also visited with Griner and her wife at the hospital.
Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) said the wounded Griner delivered the final shot as Hodgkinson continued firing.
“Many lives would have been lost if not for the heroic actions of the two Capitol Police officers,” Trump said.
Lobbyist Matt Mika, 38, of Tyson Foods, a former congressional aide, was also in critical condition after undergoing surgery for multiple gunshot wounds, according to his family.
Zach Barth, 24, an aide to Rep. Roger Williams (R-Tex.), was the fourth shooting victim. He was treated and released. Williams suffered an ankle sprain while diving into a dugout as he fled the shooter.
Trump, on his 71st birthday, broke the news of Hodgkinson’s death to the nation in a late-morning television appearance.
“Everyone on that field is a public servant,” said Trump, who was one of the shooter’s favorite Republican whipping boys. “Their sacrifice makes democracy possible.”
Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) offered a possible clue to the shooter’s intentions. As he left the practice just prior to the shooting, a man approached and asked whether Republicans or Democrats were on the field.
“I told him they were Republicans,” said DeSantis, who later identified the stranger as the shooter. “He said, ‘OK, thanks.’ I got into my car to learn my Republican colleagues were targeted.”
The practice, beginning at 6 a.m., was the final warmup before Republicans were scheduled to
square off Thursday night with their Democratic partners in an annual charity game at Nationals Park in Washington.
Both sides promised the game, to be aired live on C-SPAN, would start as scheduled at 7:05 p.m.
Hodgkinson traveled east to Virginia from his home in Illinois, driving alone in a white van back in late March, the FBI said.
A photo from 2012 showed the goateed Hodgkinson protesting outside the U.S. Post Office in Belleville with a sign urging Congress to “TAX the RICH.”
The gunman was also a volunteer for Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign for the White House last year.
“Let me be as clear as I can be,” said Sanders, a Vermont independent. “Violence of any kind is unacceptable in our society, and I condemn this action in the strongest possible terms.”
Hodgkinson was alone when he arrived at the baseball field. The quiet neighborhood soon exploded in the sounds of gunfire.
“A barrage of gunshots,” said David Thomas, 49, who was leaving the nearby YMCA. “I had a line of vision of the gentleman shooting. He was just shooting at the direction of the softball field.
“I see people falling. I can see people running and scattering.”
Neighbor John Patrick was still sleeping when the bullets started flying.
“I was awoken by gunshots,” said Patrick, who lives across the street from the field. “Thought it was construction . . . my wife said there was shooting.
“When I went out in the lot across the street I could see them tending to a person.”
Tim Slater, head of the FBI’s Washington office, said agents were scouring the slain suspect’s electronic devices in hopes of gaining some insight into his thoughts.
Rep. Rodney Davis — who nearly ran directly into the shooter while fleeing the ballpark — said the national divisiveness needed to end.
“There’s such a hatefulness in what we see in American politics today,” said Davis (R-Ill.), who found refuge in a stranger’s apartment. “This has got to stop.”
Security was ramped up at the Capitol in the wake of the attack.
Scalise has round-the-clock security because of his position, and that presence at the scene “made a significant difference,” Slater said.
But the presence of security didn’t save Scalise from the shooter, who was already down as the gunfire escalated and others scattered for cover. Wenstrup ran into the outfield to assist his wounded pal.
“Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, a true friend and patriot, was badly injured but will fully recover,” Trump tweeted hours before visiting Scalise. “Our thoughts and prayers are with him.”
Trump’s only public event of the day, a visit to the Labor Department, was canceled because of the shooting.
Wounded Officer Griner was “in good condition and we look forward to a rapid recovery,” said Chief Matthew Verderosa of the Capitol Police. She was rushed to the hospital by helicopter.
NYPD counterterror chief John Miller, at an unrelated City Council hearing, said critical response command officers were stationed at City Hall and other government buildings in response to the shooting.