2017 Congressional Baseball Game Shooting

Overview

2017 Congressional Baseball Game Shooting was a shooting that occurred at a Congressional Baseball Game practice in Alexandria, Virginia, where six people were shot including GOP House Majority Whip Steve Scalise.

Background

On June 14th, 2017, a gunman opened fire at people gathered at the Congressional Baseball Game at Eugene Simpson Stadium Park in Alexandria, Virginia. Using a rifle, the man shot Republican House Majority Whip Steve Scalise in the leg along with legislative aide Zack Barth, lobbyist Matt Mika and two United States Capitol police officers. The shooter was subsequently shot by a Capitol police officer and taken into custody but died shortly after.

Developments

Shooter Identified

On June 14th, police identified the shooter as Illinois business owner James T. Hodgkinson. That morning, The Washington Post published an interview with restaurant manager Charles Orear, who said he met Hodgkinson while the two men campaigned for Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders in Iowa in 2016.

Meanwhile, Heavy^[1] published an article about Hodgkinson, which pointed out that his Facebook^[2] page featured a banner image of Sanders and an image macro as his profile pictures, captioned with the message "Democratic Socialism explained in 3 words: ‘We the People’ Since 1776" (shown below).

Also that day, The Atlantic^[3] published an article titled "When a Suspected Shooter's Facebook Page Becomes a Circus," reporting that Hodgkinson's Facebook had been swarmed with messages. Shortly after, the profile was removed from Facebook.

That afternoon, police revealed that Hodgkinson died from his injuries.

Donald Trump's Response

That day, President Trump addressed the shooting during a press conference, during which he condemned the violence and called for unity to "work together for the common good" (shown below).

Search Interest

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External References