Wife of alleged Virginia shooter: ‘I can’t believe he did this’

The FBI said authorities are speaking with people who knew Hodgkinson or who may have encountered him.

The FBI said Thursday that it had also processed Hodgkinson’s vehicle, a white conversion van, where investigators found a cell phone, a computer and camera.

“My husband had yelled at him because the kids were outside and everything and he didn’t stop”, she said.

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise was in “imminent risk of death” when he was flown to a trauma center Wednesday after being shot during an ambush of a GOP congressional baseball team practicing on a Virginia field. A Capitol Police officer was also injured in the incident. The gunman, identified by authorities as James Hodgkinson III of IL, died after a shootout with police.

He allegedly dragged his 16-year-old foster daughter by the hair and beat her, before punching her female friend in the face and hitting a boy in the head with his shotgun, court documents show.

The couple had been married for 30 years, she said, and he’d sold nearly everything from his business before moving out to D.C.in March.

The FBI is actively investigating Hodgkinson, to include his associates, whereabouts, social media impressions, and potential motivations.

St. Clair Chief Deputy Sheriff Richard Wagner told DailyMail.com that she was in tears ‘ and her life had been turned upside down. Russell said she that had no idea where the shooter was while she was running but that she felt safe since the alley obstructed the view from the field.

Hodgkinson said repeatedly that she saw no signs her husband was planning violence.

Schaumleffel seemed to think the 2016 election enraged Hodgkinson: “He was getting even with whomever got into office he didn’t like – he was going to take some of them out”.

“It makes you feel real bad that something like this is connected to here”, Reis said. All of the sudden, I heard a couple of shots.

“It’s very sad to see that it put a negative light on our community because we have such a great community”, Wamble says.

“What makes a guy do something like that?”

MARTIN: And just briefly, what can you tell us about the state of the investigation right now?

Sue Hodgkinson said when he prepared to leave Illinois, James sold nearly everything he owned from his businesses. And to get a better sense of the political climate, I stopped by a local softball league game here last night, spoke to some people there.

“I was under the impression he was going down there to protest“, said his niece, Michelle Travous.