Congressional leader badly wounded in shootout

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A man who had posted angry messages against President Donald Trump and other Republicans on social media opened fire on GOP lawmakers practicing Wednesday morning for a charity baseball game, wounding a senior House member and three others.

The gunman, identified as 66-year-old James Hodgkinson from the St. Louis suburb of Belleville, Ill., fired repeatedly at the men playing on a field in suburban Alexandria, Va., near Washington. Hodgkinson was wounded in a gunfight with Capitol Hill police, and officials said he later died.

Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the No. 3 Republican in the House, was shot in the hip. He was tended to by fellow lawmakers including Rep. Brad Wenstrup of Ohio, who is a physician, before being taken to a hospital where he was in critical condition.

The shooting immediately raised worries about congressional security, the need for gun control measures and concerns that the nation's political dialogue has turned so ugly as to now be deadly.

Trump called Scalise, 51, a good friend who is 'patriot and he's a fighter. He will recover from this assault.”

The president also 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 his message.

Congressmen at the ballpark described hearing loud noises like firecrackers and 15 to 20 people on the ground.

'When he started shooting, he was shooting to kill people. And thank God he wasn't a very good shot,” said Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, the GOP team's manager.

Also wounded were a congressional aide and one former aide who now works as a lobbyist, officials said. One Capitol Hill officer suffered a gunshot wound and another twisted an ankle.

When Scalise was shot, he went down on the infield between first and second base, then dragged himself to the outfield, leaving a trail of blood, Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama told reporters.

Two Capitol police officers who were there with Scalise engaged the gunman with pistols.

'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.”

Wednesday's attack was the first shooting of a member of Congress since January 2011, when Democratic Rep. Gabby Giffords was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt at a gathering in Tucson, Ariz.

Six people were killed in the attack. Giffords resigned from Congress and became an activist for gun restrictions.

While police and the FBI 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 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 shooting revived debate about gun rights in America. Virginia's Democratic governor, Terry McAuliffe, called a news conference to urge gun control measures.

But Scalise has been a strong opponent.

Although the Capitol congressional offices are fortified with police officers and visitors walk through metal detectors, in the House only five members have a security detail: the Speaker, Majority Leader and Majority Whip and the Democratic Leader and Minority Whip.

Most members of Congress credited Scalise's security detail with preventing further carnage.

It would be 'cost prohibitive,” said Rep. Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla., to have officers assigned to all 535 members of Congress, but one potential change may be send a Capitol police detail to events where several members are expected.

Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., who was at the practice, suggested that Congress should look at whether members could carry guns in Washington. He said he carries a gun at home but is banned from doing so in Washington.

'If this had happened in Georgia, he wouldn't have gotten too far,” Loudermilk told CNN.

But Loudermilk suggested a broader look at security details for large gatherings of members.

'This is exactly why there's a lot of fear of even doing town halls at this point,” he said. 'Some of the things this guy is posting on Facebook, we get the same things and even worse.”

The charity ballgame between a Republican team and a Democratic team will go ahead as scheduled Thursday at Nationals Park.

Reuters and the McClatchy Washington Bureau contributed.