AMERICA'S PASTIME
A baseball practice being held by the GOP Congressional team was interrupted by wanton violence as a gunman opened fire. Majority Whip Steve Scalise was one of the victims hit before Capitol Police shot and killed the shooter, James Hodgkinson. From the NYT: Steve Scalise Among 5 Shot at Baseball Field; Suspect Is Dead. "Standing at second base, Mr. Scalise was struck in the hip, according to witnesses, and collapsed as the shots rang out, one after another, from behind a chain-link fence near the third-base dugout. Witnesses said Mr. Scalise, of Louisiana, 'army crawled' his way toward taller grass as the shooting continued." + The presence of Scalise was a factor that may have saved many lives. The Capitol Police had a security detail on the scene because of Scalise's high-ranking role in the House. From Rand Paul: "Had they not been there, it would have been a massacre." + WaPo: "Two members of Scalise's security detail, David Bailey and Crystal Griner, were shot, but witnesses said they still kept firing. Griner was eventually evacuated by helicopter with a serious wound." + Rep Ron DeSantis: "I did have an interaction with someone in the parking lot who asked me if the team practicing was a Democratic or Republican team. I told him they were Republicans. He said, 'Ok, thanks.' [He] turned around. I got into the car and left to find out my Republican colleagues were targeted by the active shooter." + Paul Ryan: "An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us. For all the noise and all the fury, we are one family." (That's true for members of Congress. That's also true for people who live in neighborhoods where this kind of violence is a daily occurence. Our family has a problem.)
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