Scalise’s brush with death

When shots rang out at a congressional baseball practice session in June, Louisiana congressman Steve Scalise initially assumed a lawn mower had backfired, said Tim Alberta in Politico. “Then boom—I’m hit,’’ says Scalise, 51. James T. Hodgkinson, 66, a fanatical Bernie Sanders supporter, had opened fire on Republican lawmakers with a semi-automatic rifle as they prepared for their annual charity game in Virginia. “I felt it...and I just went to the ground.” Shot in the hip, Scalise managed to crawl into right field before collapsing. “Your body starts going numb. The pain I should have been feeling was not there, because you know, your body is just protecting you from that pain. And so I just started praying.” Lying on the ground, Scalise started hearing a different kind of weapon firing. “So I knew my security detail was engaged. You could tell it was just a brutal fight.” Hodgkinson was shot dead in a firefight with two Capitol Police officers. Scalise was then placed in a helicopter, where he passed out from loss of blood. “They said I was within a minute of death.” The congressman, who recently returned to Capitol Hill, credits his security detail with saving his life. “And a little divine intervention from God.”