Harassing somebody verbally vs. sending bombs into office buildings. That is the difference between left and right. Chill indeed, to the right wingers.
2017 Congressional baseball shooting
Eugene Simpson Stadium Park is located in AlexandriaEugene Simpson Stadium ParkEugene Simpson Stadium Park
Location Alexandria, Virginia, U.S.
Coordinates 38°49′18″N 77°3′12″WCoordinates: 38°49′18″N 77°3′12″W
Date June 14, 2017
7:09 a.m. EDT
Target Republican Congressmen
Attack type
Mass shooting
Weapons SKS rifle and 9mm Smith & Wesson handgun[1][2][3]
Deaths 1 (perpetrator)[4]
Non-fatal injuries
6 (4 by gunfire); 1 in critical condition[5][6]
Perpetrator James Hodgkinson
On June 14, 2017, in Alexandria, Virginia, Republican member of Congress and House Majority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana was shot while practicing for the annual Congressional Baseball Game for Charity, scheduled for the following day. Also shot were Crystal Griner, a U.S. Capitol Police officer assigned to protect Scalise; Zack Barth, a congressional aide; and Matt Mika, a Tyson Foods lobbyist.
A ten-minute shootout ensued between the shooter—James Hodgkinson of Belleville, Illinois, a left-wing activist[7][8]—and officers from the Capitol and Alexandria Police. Officers shot Hodgkinson, who died from his wounds later that day at the George Washington University Hospital.[6][9]
Scalise and Mika were taken to nearby hospitals, where they underwent surgery.[10] Scalise is the first sitting member of Congress to have been shot since Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords was shot in 2011.[11]
The Virginia Attorney General concluded it was “fueled by rage against Republican legislators,” and “an act of terrorism.”[12]
Contents
1 Background
2 Shooting
3 Injuries
4 Perpetrator
5 Reactions
6 Effect on the 2017 Congressional Baseball Game
7 See also
8 References
9 External links
Background[edit]
The shooting took place on June 14, 2017, at Eugene Simpson Stadium Park in Alexandria, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. There were 24 Republican congressmen who had gathered at the park to practice for the next day's Congressional Baseball Game for Charity, an annual, bipartisan event first held in 1909. Among those at the practice, aside from Scalise, were Senators Rand Paul and Jeff Flake, and Representatives Roger Williams (the team's coach), Chuck Fleischmann, Trent Kelly, Mo Brooks, Brad Wenstrup, Rodney Davis, Jeff Duncan, Jack Bergman, and Joe Barton (the team's manager).[6][13][14][15]
Prior to the game, the Republicans had held practices at the same time and place each morning.[16] The team began its practice around 6:30 a.m. EDT that day.[16][17][18]
According to Representatives Ron DeSantis and Jimmy Duncan, they were approached before the shooting at the practice by a man who asked whether Republicans or Democrats were practicing on the field. Duncan reportedly replied that it was the Republican team. DeSantis later told reporters that both he and Duncan believe that the man was the perpetrator of the shooting, James Hodgkinson.[19]
Three Capitol Police officers were present at the practice to protect Scalise,[20] who, due to his House leadership position, has a full-time security detail assigned to protect him.[21] They were posted behind the first-base dugout on that day.[20][22]
Shooting[edit]
File:Eyewitness Account- Senator Jeff Flake on Congressional Shooting.webm
Senator Jeff Flake recounts the incident to a Voice of America reporter.
The practice had been underway for about half an hour when James Hodgkinson began firing. According to the Capitol Police, he was armed with an SKS rifle and a 9mm Smith & Wesson handgun, both of which he had apparently purchased legally.[1] It was unclear if Hodgkinson used the handgun during the shooting incident.[23]
When Hodgkinson opened fire, two of the officers, David Bailey and Crystal Griner, rushed onto the field to protect the congressmen and the other civilians. Hodgkinson hid behind the third base dugout as the third Capitol Police officer, Henry Cabrera, took aim at him from behind the first base dugout.[20][22]
At 7:09 am, the Alexandria Police received a 9-1-1 report of shots fired. Two police officers arrived within three minutes and also engaged Hodgkinson in a gunfight. Witnesses estimated between 50 and 100 shots were fired during the shootout, which lasted about 10 minutes before Hodgkinson was shot by two Alexandria Police and two Capitol Police officers.[24][25][21]
Scalise, who was at second base when the shooting started, was shot in the hip and tried to drag himself off the field. While the shooting was still going on, Rep. Mo Brooks used his belt as a tourniquet to help stop bleeding for a staffer who had been shot in the calf. After the shooting ended, Brooks and Rep. Brad Wenstrup—a podiatrist who also served with the Army's 344th Combat Support Hospital—were able to assist Scalise.[26]
Several witnesses said their lives were saved by the presence of the Capitol Police, who were there because of Scalise's position as the House Majority Whip. The Capitol Police immediately engaged Hodgkinson and kept him pinned down, preventing him from continuing to fire on the unarmed baseball players. Rep. Davis and Sen. Rand Paul separately said that if not for the presence of the officers, the incident "would have been a massacre."[27][4][28]
A tactical squad from the Capitol Police Containment and Emergency Response Team was erroneously directed to the residence of Nancy Pelosi in Georgetown, delaying their response time.[29]