“It is a testimony to how rapidly things can unhinge, how deranged minds can lurk behind the bench, and how police serve the public at significant risk to themselves.”
As this morning’s Congressional baseball practice in Alexandria, Virginia, a lone gunman ambushed a contingent of Republican senators and congressmen. With cell phone in hand, one of the individuals present at the ball-field hugged the Earth and captured the horror as it unfolded, as depicted in his video. In the early moments after gunshots rang out, a distant voice could be faintly overheard as what seems to be someone laying in the clay/grassy terrain somewhere between first and second base.
“I’ve been hit! I’m shot!”
That voice is believed to be Representative Steve Scalise (R—LA), one of five overall victims shot by lone gunman James T. Hodgkinson, a 66-year-old building inspector and stalwart Sen. Bernie Sanders supporter.
Under five minutes, additional police arrive. A plethora of shouts “Stay down! Stay down!” can be heard. Immediately, uniformed police officers converge toward the third base dugout and encounter Hodgkinson who is armed with a rifle. A mix of distinctly-different gunfire becomes evident…then silence.
Police neutralized the threat.
A group of politicos in baseball attire ran to Rep. Scalise who, laying just outside where he manned second base, remained motionless on the baseball field grass.
Rep. Scalise suffered a bullet to his hip. Four others also sustained bullet wounds; reports are that all are in stable condition at area hospitals.
Hodgkinson was the only fatality.
Unequivocally, the US Capitol police officers already present by assignment to Rep. Scalise’s security detail saved plenty of lives today. From the audio/video we can hear the recorder say “I assume someone already called 9-1-1” while in the background the wailing of police sirens were getting louder. That quickly…because assuredly the Capitol cops broadcast “Shots fired! Shots fired!” via their shoulder mics, directly piped-in to the emergency operations center dispatchers who alerted Alexandria PD, fire/rescue, and other area law enforcement agencies.
Although this fusillade of bullets ripped through the air of a ball field and cops happened to be already on-scene, it is a testimony to how rapidly things can unhinge, how deranged minds can lurk behind the bench, and how police serve the public at significant risk to themselves. Unhesitatingly, their ugly part of policing was undertaken.
Despite the shooter using Republicans as “sitting duck” targets, each party stepped onto the baseball diamond as a human dedicating time for charitable purposes. Politics had no place in the park, but it showed up and went horribly awry.
A few minutes before the shooting, Hodgkinson reportedly asked Sen. Jeff Duncan (R–SC), “Was the team practicing Democrats or Republicans?” Sen. Duncan replied “Republicans,” unwittingly triggering a man with a determined trigger-finger who brought anti-Trump and anti-Republican sentiments to the ballpark. Outgunned by police, the rifleman behind the dugout scored a zero. Quite a story today.
Is this the plateau at which our nation has arrived?
