Scalise Still In Recovery As Authorities Track Shooter's Path
WASHINGTON (WJZ/AP) — As Congressman Steve Scalise remains hospitalized, there is a clearer picture of the gunman's troubled past and his trail of bitterness is coming into view.
New surveillance video shows police pulling up to the scene of the horrific shooting in Alexandria, Virginia.
"It is so sad when you can't be safe at a baseball field in America. Something is wrong. This is clearly a deranged individual," Republican Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, from Tennesee.
Hodgkinson, was a Belleville, Illinois, home inspector who had been living out of his van near the park, had a social media page filled with criticism of Republicans and the Trump administration. He died after officers in Scalise's security detail fired back at him.
CBS News says that Hodgkinson was found with a handwritten list of names on him. There were reportedly five names with descriptions on the list, including Representative Mo Brooks, Jeff Duncan, and Trent Franks.
The FBI said it was investigating the shooter's "activities and social media impressions" in the months leading up to the attack. Authorities also were going over a cellphone, computer and camera taken from Hodgkinson's white van, which was parked near the ballfield.
People who have run-ins with gunman James Hodgkinson are coming forward, including the manager of an auto repair shop, who says Hodgkinson went on a profanity-laden rant about President Trump the day before the opening fire. He was getting air in the tires of the van he had been living in for months.
Others remembered him as an angry presence.
"He didn't strike me as a particularly nice fellow or very good to talk to. So, I kept my distance," says restaurant employee Kristina Scrimshaw.
So far, investigators have not linked Hodgkinson to any radical groups, said a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly.
The YMCA near the shooting scene confirms Hodgkinson canceled his membership the day before the killing.
He frequently railed against Republicans online. The FBI is examining Hodgkinson's computer and is trying to determine why he left his home in southern Illinois for the DC area.
"I'm sorry that he did this. But, there is nothing I can do about it," says Hodgkinson's wife Sue Hodgkinson.
His only recent contact with police was back in Illinois in March, when he shot a rifle near his home.
"If he ever gave some kind of indication that, you know, he was mental, if he was out there target practicing for some other reason, then we would look further," says Sheriff Rick Watson, with St. Clair County Illinois Sheriff's Office.
At the congressional baseball game, the Republican and Democratic House leaders did a rare joint interview calling for civility.
"I'm sure there is rhetoric on both sides of the aisle that goes too far. It is our job to make sure it doesn't go too far, but that it is still passionate, and that is basically the tone we are trying to set," says Speaker of the House Paul Ryan.
Congressman Scalise remains hospitalized and requires more surgeries.
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