Top House GOP leader shot at congressional baseball practice

House Republicans scheduled a members-only briefing in the late morning to discuss the shooting.

Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Tenn., said the baseball practice session was nearly over when the rampage began on the field shortly after 7 a.m.

“His question was pointed: “‘Excuse me sir, who’s practicing today? The man calmly asked which party’s lawmakers were practicing and Duncan told him they were the Republicans. After Newtown, I tried to focus my work on issues that I thought people would find easy to agree on: keeping guns from domestic abusers and people with histories of serious mental illness; preventing accidental gun deaths among children; making it harder for felons to purchase guns on the Internet. “He said, ‘OK, thanks, ‘ turned around”. Duncan then left, saying later, “It was the guy they’ve identified as the shooter”. He added, “At some point or another, he goes around the third base dugout towards home plate, where he is taken down”.

The New York Post obtained the video from the unidentified witness. Many lawmakers were near the dugout area when the man approached them. It was absolutely frantic.

“We don’t know who our words touch and affect”, Rep.

The two-minute-long clip, which Noah Nathan gave ABC News permission to use, shows a shaky view of police and players through the chain-link fence but captures the sound of gunfire with unmistakable clarity.

“The only thing I was concerned about was that it was such a high-powered gun, and that somebody could possibly get hurt”.

Colleagues said Scalise had been fielding balls at second base at a local park in Alexandria, just across the Potomac River from the nation’s capital, as the Republicans practiced for their annual game with Democrats. He said he heard between 50 and 60 shots and hid behind a tree with a congressional staff member. And Donnelly says Capitol Police told Minority Leader Chuck Schumer not to leave the building. “I pulled out my phone and started recording it”, he said. “We do it for charity”, Barton said. “Have you called 911?”

“We’ve got to take it down a notch, or two, or three”, Ryan said of a political environment he said is more charged than in 2010. Two officers were wounded, and lawmakers and the president said the outcome would have been worse if they were not there.

“One of our security detail was shooting back, but it was our pistol versus the shooter’s rifle”, Brooks said.

The shooter, described as a white man with dark hair and wearing a blue shirt, could be seen standing with a rifle as shots were fired, Flake said. “It wasn’t a fair fight”. The team was taking batting practice when a gunshot rang out and chaos erupted, lawmakers on the scene said.

Filous said she saw the shooter hit a uniformed law enforcement officer, who she said was later evacuated by helicopter.

Rep Roger Williams, R-Texas, who coaches the team, said he wasn’t injured but that a member of his staff was and is receiving medical treatment. Scalise, too, was attended to by his colleagues on the field.

Slater, who runs the FBI’s Washington field office, said he was “not aware” of whether that encounter was related to the shooting. “He was just walking and shooting as if it was just like he was practicing”.