The gunman who shot five people, including House Republican Whip Steve Scalise, at a congressional baseball practice in Virginia on Wednesday has died from gunshots sustained as Capitol Police returned fire, President Trump announced. In brief remarks from the White House’s Diplomatic Room late Wednesday morning, Trump offered his support and gratitude to Scalise and and the other victims of the shooting, which included two Capitol Police officers, a staffer for Rep. Roger Williams, and a government relations employee in Tyson Foods’ Washington, D.C. office. “Many lives would have been lost if not for the heroic actions of the two Capitol Police officers, who took down the gunman despite sustaining gunshot wounds during a very, very brutal assault.” Trump said. The president reached out to Scalise’s wife, Jennifer, and the chief of the Capitol Police to express his support and gratitude, he said. “Congressman Scalise is a friend, a very good friend, he is a patriot, and he is a fighter.” Scalise, whose injuries were not life-threatening, entered surgery at Washington Medstar Hospital on Wednesday morning, and was reportedly in “good spirits.” Trump called for national unity in the wake of the shooting. “We may have our differences, but we do well in times like these to remember that everyone who serves in our nation’s capital is here because above all they love our country,” the president said. “We are strongest when we are unified and when we work together towards a common good.”
—Lachlan Markay
