James Hodgkinson



James T. Hodgkinson was the gunman behind the 2017 Congressional baseball shooting that severely injured Congressman Steve Scalise, one of the Republican Party's leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Hodgkinson was very anti-Republican, particularly against President Donald Trump. During the 2016 Presidential election he was a volunteer for the campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders. He also had a history of violence and mental illness; according to the St. Clair County Sherriff's Office, they had been called to his house multiple times in the past 20 years. Among other things, he has been accused of beating his foster daughter as well as domestic battery.

On June 14, 2017, Hodgkinson arrived during the Republican team's baseball practice and opened fire, hitting Congressman Scalise in the hip and causing internal injuries. The police soon arrived on the scene and engaged Hodgkinson in a shootout. After ten minutes, Hodgkinson was shot by officers and later died in the hospital.

According to the FBI, Hodgkinson was planning to kill more noted Republican politicians. Also, according to Senator Rand Paul, who was present at the shooting, the affair would have turned into a "massacre" had it not been for the presence of security officers and police.