A man allegedly approached Republican Rep. Ron Desantis of Florida minutes before the shooting in Alexandria, Va., Wednesday and asked which party the people on the field belonged to, Republicans or Democrats.
While appearing on “Fox and Friends” Desantis described the strange encounter that occurred minutes before the incident.
DeSantis said by phone that as he was getting into the car with his colleague Republican Rep. Jeff Duncan of South Carolina when an unidentified man approached them and asked whether it was Democrats or Republicans who were practicing. DeSantis says he was slightly perturbed but didn’t think too much of it. He left at 7:10 AM, five minutes before shots rang out.
DeSantis said the stranger had no guns, “He was not carrying anything at the time, but from where the shots were I would think that probably was staged.”
“It was a little odd,” said DeSantis “that he walked up to us to ask, and then went ahead and it was probably three minutes, five minutes after we pulled out of the parking lot.”
Duncan later noted the stranger and the shooter were wearing different clothes.
Unconfirmed reports say that the gunman was carrying a rifle and began opening fire on politicians and staff who had been in the outfield. Rep. Steve Scalise is said to be shot in the hip and was taken to a nearby hospital. Several staffers are wounded but we do not yet know how badly or if anyone has been killed.
The suspect is said to have been shot and apprehended.
Capitol Police returned fire, with one officer continuing to defend the field despite being wounded.
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