Virginia shooting: eyewitness accounts from lawmakers who were there

Members of Congress started Wednesday morning at a baseball practice in Alexandria, Virginia, preparing for a bipartisan game Thursday night. Then, suddenly, senators and representatives found themselves under gunfire, tying improvised tourniquets as their colleagues and staffers lay bleeding on the ground.

Back at the US Capitol later that morning, several House members shared their accounts with reporters. Four people, including House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA), were shot. They are expected to be recover. The gunman was shot and killed by police, President Donald Trump said in a short statement from the White House.

Lawmakers mused how, as tragic as the morning’s attack was, the scene could have been much worse had several members not left practice minutes before the shooting started and had Scalise’s Capitol Hill police detail not been accompanying him.

The officers “probably saved many, many lives,” Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), who manages the Republican baseball team, told reporters a few hours after the shooting.

The Republicans were practicing for an annual congressional baseball game, which is scheduled for Thursday and expected to go on, at a recreational baseball field in the Del Ray neighborhood in Alexandria, Virginia.

Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC) told reporters he believed he had spoken with the shooter as he left the practice. The man was wearing a red shirt, he recalled, and Duncan did not notice him holding anything.

“Someone in the parking lot asked if the team practicing was a Democratic or Republican team,” he said. “I told him they were Republicans. He said, ‘Okay, thanks’ and turned around. I got in the car.”

That was at 7:02 am, according to Duncan, who said he noted the time as he left. Alexandria Police said they were called about the shooting at 7:09 am.

Lawmakers often interact with local citizens during their practice, Duncan said. They have practiced at the same field for the seven years that he has been in Congress.

“It’s not uncommon for us to have interactions with citizens,” he said. “Nothing was out of the ordinary about this gentleman coming up and asking me a question.”

Duncan and Rep. Ron DeSantis, who left with him before the shooting, both play infield positions for the GOP baseball team. Several members noted how thankful they were that Duncan and DeSantis had left because the gunfire was concentrated in the infield. Barton said 22 people had been at practice that morning.

The gunman began shooting from behind the third-base dugout, Barton said. He then moved behind home plate, but never came inside the fence surrounding the field. Barton said he did not see much more of the shooting because he was taking cover to protect his young son, who was also there.

Rep. Mike Conaway (R-TX), who said he had been at first base when the shooting started, said he saw a staffer or lobbyist laying behind car, shot in the chest. He saw police officers exchanging fire with the gunman, and Conaway tried to point the man out to them, he said.

He saw ricochet shots hit a car tire and a police officer in the ankle, Conaway said.

Police officers eventually got into a physical altercation with the gunman, who had dropped his rifle but still had a handgun, Conaway said.

“They shoot him. He goes down. They put him in handcuffs,” Conaway said.

He also noted the importance of Scalise being accompanied by Capitol Hill police, whom Barton said were sitting behind the first base dugout, an extra layer of security afforded only to the members of congressional leadership.

“Had they not been there, it could have been a lot worse, I mean, dramatically worse,” Conaway said. “Had the gunman got inside the fence, where our team was and a bunch of guys holed up in the dugout, it would have been shooting fish in a barrel.”

Scalise was shot in his hip, according to his office. He has gone through surgery and is expected to recover. Lawmakers estimated as many as 100 shots were fired during the incident.