Republican Congressman Steve Scalise lay on the ground for approximately 10 minutes after being shot during GOP baseball practice in Alexandria, Virginia, on June 14, according to GOP Senator Jeff Flake, who said he witnessed the attack.
Scalise and at least one of his aides were reportedly shot during what police called a multiple shooting. Police said a suspect was in custody.
The attack happened during practice by Republican members of Congress and staffers ahead of a charity baseball game against Democrats on June 15.
Speaking to reporters after the incident, Flake recalled what had happened.
“From around the third base dugout [we heard] a loud crack,” Flake said. “And somebody said, ‘That sounds like a gun.’ Very loud. And then, boom boom, it started going again. And then we knew it was.”
Flake said he and several other got into the first base dugout, and that Scalise’s security officers began to shot at the gunman. He said Scalise had been shot, and that he had “dragged himself about 15 yards from near second base on to the field, and was laying motionless out there, but we couldn’t get to him until the shooting stopped.”
He said another staffer ran into the dugout with a leg wound, having been shot, and those present used a belt to help with the bleeding.
He said the shooter was a man with a blue shirt, and that after “about 10 minutes” someone said the “shooter was down.”
At that point, Flake said, he ran out and helped Scalise, who had been shot in the hip.
Flake said approximately 25 GOP figures had been present and that he presumed they had been targeted.
At approximately 6’33" in this footage, a person can be seen being wheeled away on a gurney. Credit: Facebook/Daniel Mallon via Storyful