Republican Ohio Rep. Brad Wenstrup revealed that the FBI labeled the attack in which a shooter opened fire on GOP lawmakers in 2017 as a “suicide by cop.”
“Much to our shock that day, the FBI concluded that this was a case of the attacker seeking suicide by cop,” Wenstrup said at an April 15 House Intelligence Committee hearing, according to Politico.
James Hodgkinson, the man who shot at Republican congressmen as they practiced for the Congressional Baseball Game, died after being shot by police.
The FBI never publicly disclosed its final conclusions about the 2017 baseball field shooting that nearly killed GOP Whip Steve Scalise. Now some lawmakers are talking about what they know. https://t.co/2KW64ep5B6
— POLITICO (@politico) April 21, 2021
“This conclusion defies logic and contradicts the publicly known facts about the perpetrator and the attack. The shooter had an extensive social media record highlighting his hatred of President Trump and Republicans. He had a list of names — including Republican Members of Congress — in his possession. Before carrying out his attack, he asked if the Members at the baseball field were Republicans or Democrats. Furthermore, the shooter’s operational movements during the attack demonstrate his murderous intent,” Wenstrup wrote in a letter to Wray that supplemented his testimony.
Commonwealth Attorney Bryan L. Porter deemed the shooting an act of terrorism in an October 2017 report.
“The evidence in this case establishes beyond a reasonable doubt that the suspect, fueled by rage against Republican legislators, decided to commit an act of terrorism as that term is defined by the Code of Virginia,” he wrote.
Hodgkinson, a volunteer on Bernie Sander’s 2016 presidential election campaign, wrote multiple letters to the editor of his local Illinois newspaper in which he trashed Republicans and praised MSNBC host Rachel Maddow. (RELATED: As Dems Angle To Deplatform Fox News, Rep. Scalise Reminds Them Baseball Shooter Was A Fan Of MSNBC)
Republican Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise was almost killed in the attack, suffering a shattered femur along with other damage to his hip. Wenstrup, a former surgeon, said at the time that the shooting “felt like I was back in Iraq but without my weapon.”