A man opened fire on congressmen practicing for the Congressional Baseball Game Wednesday morning, injuring at least five people. According to NBC, the shooting suspect was identified as 66-year-old James T. Hodgkinson. He entered a park in Virginia and began shooting, injuring several people including Republiction Rep. Steve Scalise. Hodgkinson later died from his own injuries.
BREAKING: Hospital says Rep. Steve Scalise is in critical condition following surgery for gunshot.
— The Associated Press (@AP) June 14, 2017
While law enforcement was previously unsure of the motive behind this attack, the suspect’s brother may have given some helpful information. According to The New York Times, Michael Hodgkinson said his brother “wasn’t happy with the way things were going, the election results and stuff.” In the telephone interview, he regarded the incident as “totally out of the blue.”
The interview has led to a closer look at Hodgkinson’s life. The Times reported that “social media accounts that appear to be affiliated with Mr. Hodgkinson show a man deeply connected to liberal politics and distrustful of Republican-controlled Washington.”
On Tuesday morning Hodgkinson posted a cartoon that suggested big corporations bribe Congress to get their bills passed. He also posted many references to former candidate Bernie Sanders, and indicated that he had volunteered for the 2016 campaign. Despite this connection, Sanders has strongly condemned the shooting.
Despite having certain views on liberal voters, Hodgkinson “did not come off as an unstable individual,” Charlene Brennan, a woman he had worked with in the past, told the Times. “He wasn’t belligerent; he was just kind of a normal guy,” she said.
It seems like no one is sure why Hodgkinson would ever take such drastic actions against lawmakers in D.C. His social media and voting records may lead to some answers, but in the end it’s near impossible to know why someone would do something like this.