Five people including the House Majority Whip Steve Scalise were shot at a GOP Congressional baseball practice on Wednesday morning by a gunman who hid behind the dugout as he sprayed the group with bullets.
Scalise was shot in the hip, according to Republican Rep. Mo Brooks who used his belt as a tourniquet to stop his bleeding.
Four others, including two capitol hill cops, were also reportedly injured.
The gunman was arrested at the scene.
He fired 50 shots from a rifle, taking shelter behind the dugout.
Scalise is the Republican majority whip in the House of Representatives – the congressman responsible for counting votes and maintaining party discipline.
The Louisianan, a father of two, is counted among conservatives in Congress who tend to back President Donald Trump’s more controversial initiatives, including calling his famous travel ban a ‘prudent’ measure. he endorsed Trump unreservedly last year.
Scalise came under fire in 2014 for remarks he made in 2002 at a conference run by a group that he later learned was a white supremacist organization.
The infamous former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, who founded the group, blasted Scalise as a ‘sellout’ for apologizing.
The Congressional baseball game is an annual tradition pitting members of the Democratic and Republican parties against each other.
The game is set to take place on Thursday at Nationals Park.