Alabama Representative Mo Brooks was on deck to bat at a GOP practice for the annual Congressional Baseball Game when he said he heard gunshots ring out on the field.
After reports of a shooting during the practice, Brooks called in to CNN and shared the tragic details of the incident.
Brooks said when he heard the shots, he turned to see a gunman with a semi-automatic rifle posted up behind the third base dugout, which is made out of concrete.
Brooks heard dozens of shots fired, which resulted in at least five injuries that he is aware of: House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) was shot in the hip, and one staffer and three law enforcement officers were shot.
“At the same time I hear Steve Scalise, over by second base, scream,” Brooks recalled. “He was shot.”
Then, Brooks ran to a batting cage that was protected by a layer of plastic, before using a break in the gunfire to get to the first base dugout.
“There were a number of congressmen and congressional staffers,who help us, lying on the ground, and one of them was wounded in the leg. Took off my belt and myself and other congressmen applied a tourniquet to try and slow down the bleeding.”
Finally, Brooks said, security detail began returning fire on the gunman, although they only had pistols while the shooter had a long-barrel rifle.
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“Eventually, the shooter started circling around third base…and the shooter starts coming around home plate where we are outside the fence line,” he continued. “And my understanding is that’s where our security detail…took him down.”
“Once we got the all clear…we ran out into second base for Steve Scalise and he had crawled out into the outfield, leaving a trail of blood,” Brooks explained, describing how he began putting pressure on Scalise’s wound.
A helicopter came to take away the “most wounded,” although Brooks wasn’t sure exactly who was taken.
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Overall, Brooks said he heard 50-100 shots during the ordeal.
