lou: that's it for us tonight, thanks for being with us for our special coverage. congressman dave bratt, among our special coverage continues tomorrow with adam shapiro. good night from new york.. adam: i'm adam shapiro and this is a fox business network special report. now as you know, it has been a disturbing and incredible day in the nation's capital, the number three house republican steve scalise hospitalized in critical condition and three others wounded after a gunman this morning opened fire on them, as they practicefor charity baseball game. capitol police working security at the field shot e suspect who later died at the hospital. he's believed to have been an outspoken bernie sanders supporter who once volunteered for the sanders campaign. according to investigators and witnesses, the shooter approached the practice area in alexandria, virginia, armed

with a rifle and a handgun and then opened fire. [ gunshots ] . adam: witnesses later describe the terrifying scene to us. >> i was next in line to bat, standing next to the batting cage when the first shot rang out. second shot rang out within a couple of seconds. pretty obvious at that point, we had a shooter, i could tell from my perspective, from somewhere behind the third base dugout. i kicked into marine mode, went to a low crawl, crawled behind the first base dugout along with a couple of others, not knowing which direction the shooter was moving. adam: the gunfire wounded representative scalise along with a congressional aide, a lobbyist and a capitol police officer. when backup police arrived a few minutes later, we're told the gunbattle ensued. >> heard a bunch of what appeared to be shots, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, seemed like

return fire, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, 30 to 50 shots that i heard. adam: the gunman identifd as 66 james hodgkinson was killed. fortunately, paramedics were able to get to the victims inside. congressman scalise was operated on later in the morning and as was just reported, doctors say he's still in critical condition. the president is visiting scalise at medstar washington center along with the first lady who brought flowers for him. he reportedly arrived a short time ago. earlier today on fox news, illinois republican congressman rodney davis, who was at the practice, said the political discourse in the united states has got to cool off. >> there are innocent people in that park every day. we watch them walk their dogs, take dogs to the dog park, there were children on the field with us in the dugout. this political rhetoric, this political rhetoric and political discourse that has

led to hate, led to gunfire. i never thought i'd go to baseball practice for charity and have to dodge bullets. this has to stop and stop today. adam: let's dive deeper into what is actually transpired over the last 14 hours, i want to let the audience know, that high-pitched whistle you hear is an alarm at the russell rotunda on capitol hill. the authorities are trying to get the doors shut. that's causing the alarm to go off. what about the man responsible for the shootings, james hodgkinson. we're told he was a home inspector from southern illinois. wh else is there tbeen h? jeff flock has more on the suspected shooter and joins us now, jeff? >> reporter: good evening to you, indeed. we've spent the day trying to probe james t. hodgkinson. 66 years old, home inspector and construction business in downstate illinois. i show you the mug shot from the first brush with authorities in 1992 for dui.

in between that lesser offenses but to find out who he is and who his politics are, we look to letters written to his hometown newspaper, the belleville news democrat. i read from one, january 20th, 2012, he said to fund a government deficit, i hope the obama administration raises the income tax rate for the rich to 70% or more. later that year he said i don't want a president who will lower taxes on the rich and raise them on the other 99%. and in august of that year, he writes again to the paper saying i have never said life sucks, only the policies of the republicans. his rhetoric in those letters, i think it could be said fairly calm rhetoric and reasoned rhetoric, whether you agree with it or not and, in fact, one of his friends interviewed in belleville said that he knew of mr. hodgkinson's frustration with the government but never had any idea that it would turn

violent. >> i just want to let the people know he wasn't evil, that he was, i guess tired of some of the politics going on. i can see how he's pretty well fed up with some of the stuff. i'm fed up with what's going on in this state. >> reporter: and adam, i point out that the last brush that he had th authorities aside from today was earlier this year in march of this year when there were reports of gunshots coming from his property, the police report as i quote from it now said the subject in the pine trees was shooting, a caller heard 50 shots but mr. hodgkinson had a valid firearms owner id card. he was allowed to keep his weapon and told don't do that again. adam: jeff, i know that -- i believe there's a man who identifies himself as a lawyer who once represented hodgkinson, who called him an angry little man, but when you talk about the rhetoric, the anger seems to have escalated

especially in the facebook posts. there's the one about president trump, right? >> reporter: yes, the rhetoric and the letters to the editor which was the precursor of facebook, maybe. not quite as angry, but got anger and angrier, trump is a traitor, trump destroyed our democracy, it is time to destroy trump and company. he joined groups called terminate the republican party and the road to hell is paved with republicans. but i tell if you you look on facebook now you find a lot more anti-trump, stronger anti-trump rhetoric than he had on his facebook page. looking back in hindsight, you say gee, maybe there was something there, but if you look at it without the hindsight, there's a lot of people that have a lot of things to say on facebook that don't go shooting up the congress. adam: that's correct. thank you very much, jeff flock, chicago, illinois, thank you for joining us. and joining us now is alabama congressman gary palmer. he was at the baseball practice this morning and witnessed it all.

i want to thank you for joining us here this evening, and i know there's a great many questions we have for you, but the most important, after what you've been through is how are you? how are you coping with all of this? >> i'm fine, i'm very grateful to have gotten away uninjured and i'm very, very grateful that those who were wounded are recovering and particularly grateful for the extraordinary courage and professionalism shown by the capitol police. there would have been no telling how many people shot and possibly killed if they had not been there, and in particular, crystal griner. i saw crystal wounded on the ground pulling herself into position to continue to return fire. adam: and let's talk about that, i think it's about five, maybe 9 after 7:00 a.m. when the first shots rang out. we've been told from witnesses that this man, mr. hodgkinson,

actually approached the baseball field and asked somebody are these the republicans or the democrats? was told republicans and went about shooting. it does, we asked the fbi was this some kind of political assassination attempt? was this a target of republicans? it sure sound like it was with this man? >> that was congressman jeff duncan that he asked, and he came over and walked over past the third base dugout, congressman trent kelly of mississippi was at third, i was at short, scalise was at second, and when i heard the first shot, i knew immediately it was a gunshot, and yelled trent, that was a gunshot. and trent said, yeah, and he yelled he has a gun, get out or run. we began moving to try to find cover, and as we did, there were two more shots and i saw scalise go down, i knew he had been hit low, i didn't know

where, i thought maybe in the leg, and we took cover behind a large oak treeehind the first base dugout, and steve scalise dirt to the outfield grass, and a couple of us were yelling at him to stay down, and he remained there until they were able to subdue the shooter. adam: let me ask you this question as well, you spoke to president trump today. >> i did. adam: what did you talk about in the phone call? >> well, we talked about the extraordinary courage of the capitol police, and we owe them a tremendous debt of gratitude. we talked about what actually transpired, and really the need for the rhetoric to be toned down on both sides. we're at a very critical time in our country's history, adam, and i'm very concerned that we're pulling apart, and we're pulling apart from the edges, the extreme left and maybe the

extreme right. we've got to come together. we've got to figure out a way to discuss our differences on policy. do it in a civil manner. communicate with the public, and everybody needs to tone down the rhetoric. adam: there was a really remarkable show of unity, the speaker of the house and nancy pelosi, the minority leader in the house, do you think this will last? >> i hope so. i want to say this about speaker ryan's address to the full body this morning. i thought that was speaker ryan at his best. i don't know if you picked up on it, there was emotion in his voice, and i thought he was outstanding. i'veot aumber of democrat friends, one of whom is a very close friend, seth matthews, seth came over and talked with me and you always try to find something out of a tragedy like this that can be of value, and

i particularly since so far no one has died from this, i really hope that what comes out of this is that we as a congress come together, and we engage in a more respectful and more honest dialogue without the hyperbole and some of the things that we've seen over the last couple of years, and start working out these policy issues and communicate that to everyone. adam: i think it's one of the things we aren't often able to share in reporting is members of congress, whether it be republicans or democrats, are often friends off camera, and sharing experiences like that. >> i had a number of democrats speak to me today, and i'm, you know, we disagree on issues, but we have one thing or couple things in common. one, we love our families and we love our country, and i think if you could start from there, you could make something good out of it. adam: representative gary palmer, appreciate you being with us on the fox business

network and wish you the best after what you've been through today. >> thank you, adam. adam: the congresan suggested, many people are blaming today's shootings on the toxic political discourse coming out of the nation's capital in washington, d.c., hours after the shooting on the house floor, speaker paul ryan called on members of both parties to unite and show the world that despite our vast differences, they are one house. his pledge was echoed by nancy pelosi in a rare showing of solidarity on the house floor. >> i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic, for which it stands, one nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. . adam: we want to go to the white house where fox business washington correspondent blake burman is standing by live for us, and the president, blake, just spoke after the shooting, tell us what he had to say and

what he's up to now? >> reporter: he did, adam, a busy night for the president. we can tell you president trump, first lady melania trump at medstar hospital in northeast d.c. here. one of the premiere hospitals in the district. it is of course where congressman steve scalise has been receiving treatment throughout the day. the president, the first lady, arrived there at about 8:40 this evening, meaning they've been there so far this evening for the better part of half hour or so. on this day, president trump, vice president pence scrapped all of their public events. president we can tell you spoke with the wife of steve scalise by phone earlier today, and after that, he delivered this message here to the american people. >> we may have our differences, but we do well in times like these to remember that everyone who serves in our nation's capital is here because, above

all, they love our country. >> reporter: adam, you played a little video from congress, for the most part, congress was ground to a halt today. there were speeches given by leadership on both sides of the aisle in both the house and the senate. the bipartisan grief, the bipartisan support was present throughout the day here in washington. so much so that the democratic leader, the democratic coach of this charity softball game tomorrow appeared at a joint press conference with the republican coach for a message that was this. they say no matter what, the game tomorrow will go forward. >> we're united, not as reblicans and democrats, but as united states representatives. >> shouldn't take an incident like this to bring us together. i know in times of tragedy, we have americans do that. joe and i have been reflecting a lot lately, just on how we

can still maintain our principles and our legislative agendas but we could do it in a more civil way. >> reporter: adam, the phone calls were extended today by barack obama. the republican senator jeff flake said he received a phone call from the former democratic president. adam? adam: blake burman live at the white house, thank you very much. coming up, we're going to speak to the former mayor of alexandria, virginia who said he knew the suspected shooter, and we will get more on the condition of congressman steve scalise in a live report from the hospital where he is recovering. that's coming up next. >> i was the first out with steve and then brad, another member from ohio, who's a physician came out and we applied pressure on the wound.

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now back to the white house. we are back with more on today's shooting at that congressional baseball practice in alexandria, virginia. former mayor of alexandria says he actually met the man who's been identified as a gunman. met him at the local ymca. former mayor bill euille joins me from alexandria. thank you for joining us, sir. i want to jump right into, you knew this man, you were told by the fbi living in a van the last three months, how did you meet him? >> i'm a 20-year member of the ymca and work out there monday through friday. arrive about 7:15 to 7:30 a.m. every morning and about a month and a half ago i noticed this gentleman sitting at the front table i would enter the front lobby and he'd be on a laptop and civilian clothes and then after a couple of days, after i finished my routine workout and come back upstairs, get a cup

of coffee and sit at a table, check my iphone, read a newspaper, members of the y and local residents say good morning, mr. mayor, how are you doing? we miss you, and sometimes say hey, i have a question, can i sit and chat. and after a couple of days he approached he and said hey, are you really the mayor of alexandria? i said yes, and introduced myself. he obviously told me his name, which i never remembered. every morning subsequently, i'd go in and he'd be there almost in the same table, same posture with his laptop, occasionally i would run into him in the locker room and he would not physically exercise. adam: just sit there? >> shower, change clothes. so you know, we got to know each other by dialoguing. he asked me if i could help him find a job. places to dine for breakfast and lunch, and that's the relationship i had with him, and the only other person he spoke to other than myself was

one of the day managers at the y. adam: let me ask you and we don't have too much time. i want to ask you this question, especially since we heard that representative scalise will need further surgery, so we can report that this evening though the president has just visited him. he's in critical condition. will need more surgery. this man who the fbi seeks more information about, this mr. hodgkinson, did he exhibit any kind of behavior? we are told by people who knew him, former lawyer said he was an angry little man, not our words, words of his lawyer. he had run-ins with the law. did he exhibit any behavior that would make him seem unstable or angry? >> no, i'm a very commonsense people, been around people with all kinds of illnesses, mental depression and never detected anything that was unusual about him. he seemed to be very normal, very, he's respective.

when you're in a conversation with him, he, you know, just didn't demonstrate anything negative about him, and i never had a direct conversation with him about politics, didn't really know his political stance, but as i've said all day, if i had to pick from two people, which one would have done what happened today? he would not have been on my radar, because he just did not exhibit any of those characteristics, and it's most unfortunate and sad. adam: mayor bill euille, the former mayor of alexandria, virginia, we appreciate you joining us on the fox business network. back to the condition of congressman steve scalise, he was shot in the hip today and we are told he is in critical condition, which likely explains the need for more operations. fox news correspondent doug mckelway is at medstar hospital with the latest on congressman's condition, what can you tell us? >> reporter: well, information has been very, very sparse

coming from the medstar washington hospital center, only the third communication from them occurred just a few minutes ago indicating he would indeed need more surgeries. this is not a surprise to us given the nature of wounds stemming from a high-powered rifle. anybody who knows anything about high-powered rifle, it devastates human tissue and bone. what we know is the case -- but what they do in a case like this is stem the bleeding, stabilize the patient and subsequent surgeries try to do reconstruction in this case of the hip and any other organs that might have been damaged by this attack. but it's very unusual that he was labeled in critical condition late this afternoon in a tweet from the hospital about five hours ago, little more than five hours ago, when the initial reports and the immediate aftermath of the shooting we know mr. scalise was indeed hit, indicated he

was in stable condition. we haven't heard whether this conveys a degradation in his condition or whether it's standard procedure for anybody who one has suffered a gunshot wound, and two has undergone major surgery as is the case with mr. scalise. we don't know what the reasoning is for that, and perhaps we'll hear more from the hospital. hospital is home to another victim of the attack, the capitol police officer crystal griner, struck in the foot or in the ankle. she is said to be in good condition. the other hospitals in town, george washington university, matt mika, who is a lobbyist for tyson foods is also being treated. he may be the most serious of all the conditions. he's also in critical condition but shot in the chest. zach barth, a staffer for congressman roger williams is also in an undisclosed hospital. we only know that because he tweeted out early this morning

he had been hit in the carnage there, and that he was going to be okay. we later heard from a family spokesperson he was shot through the calf muscle, and the other officer involved, david bailey, was not struck by gunfire but suffered a minor injury and not treated at the hospital, released from the hospital. he may be the real hero here, we understand he had a large part in putting the bad guy down and there by sparing many, many others grievous injury or death, back to you. adam: doug mckelway reporting on the conditions of the people shot this morning during the practice for the congressional baseball game. thank you for joining us. coming up, more on the investigation into the suspect's motive. who was he and why was he targeting republican lawmakers? a former fbi assistant director will join me next. >> the fbi has issued a seeking information poster, identifying the shooter and it can be found

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centered 800 miles west in belleville, illinois. that's where the suspect, james hodgkinson lived and federal investigators are said to be going through his house searching for clues. they are also reviewing his social media posts to try to find a motive. joining us now, former fbi assistant director ron hosko, and the first question is what kind of profile can you build on a man like this based on what he's posted on, say, facebook or twitter? >> it depends how openly and aggressively he's used social media, but i think the fbi search will be much broader than that. they will be looking for examples of his personal relationships. his marital status. relationships within his family. you know, co-workers, former co-workers, current co-workers, anybody he has recently had contact with to include medical professionals and i would bet a

paycheck that we will see evidence of mental illness in this person's past. they will certainly be looking in his medicine cabinet to see what kind of prescription drugs he may have been taking and for what reason, going back to the doctors around that, and that may give us a much fuller picture over the last weeks and months of his life. adam: let me ask you this, and i'm going to read a quote that jeff flock shared with us earlier that this man posted on facebook. is that the kind of thing that should have triggered a warning when he wrote trump is a traitor, destroyed our democracy, and this is the line that raises a lot of eyebrows, it is time to destroy trump and company. that's aggressive or the kind of rhetoric that we now accept in the united states? >> i have to say that that is every day, in large volumes in the united states, and to the criminal investigators, i was in charge of the washington field office criminal division

when gabby giffords was shot and we had multiple meetings with house and senate representatives, sergeants in arms, capitol police, trying to look at our best practices and our best judgments how to share information, how to be efficient in our work, but the reality is that constituent communications, public communications flow in on a regular basis to capitol hill here and are ugly, but are not rising to the level of a criminal case that would dispatch agents out to find out somebody's true intention. adam: you know, you just raised an issue that we don't report about but when there's a heated debate taking place in congress, the members receive awful letters and e-mails from people who threaten all kinds of things, but in this case with this man, you bring up the issue of potential for mental illness. what, if anything, can we as a nation do if someone is mentally ill to prevent the kind of event that we saw this

morning? >> well, i think first and foremost, we, free people, cannot control whether somebody in a mental illness situation is taking their medicine. this is an adult. he can choose not to take his medicine, his blood chemistry analysis may give us better indicator what he was taking and when, but we cannot force feed people medicines if they're not in an inhouse situation. it gets very delicate. we have untreated mental illness in large amounts across america, and you see it as a driving factor in the active shooters. you see it time and again, whether it's untreated or they haven't treated it recently, it is a decided factor, wouldn't surprise me if it's present here, and that is something that's very difficult for law enforcement to have immediate knowledge of and to be able to police in an effective way. adam: we appreciate you joining us, ron hosko, former fbi

director, you give us a perspective on this, good to have you with us. >> thank you. adam: coming up, today's suspect in the shooting was believed to be a bernie sanders supporter. we'll hear how senator sanders responded to that news right after this break. at fidelity, trades are now just $4.95. we cut the price of trades to give investors even more value. and at $4.95, you can trade with a clear advantage. fidelity, where smarter investors will always be.

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for you, the hospital treating congressman steve scalise just released a statement on his injuries and it reads congressman steve scalise sustained a single shot to left hip. bullet traveled across his pelvis fracturing bones and causing severe bleeding. he was transported in shock to medstar hospital center, a level one trauma center. he underwent immediate surgery, he received multiple units of blood transfusion, his condition is critical and he will require additional operations. we will provide periodic updates. and we also have this for you, brand new video of president trump and the first lady leaving the hospital after they visited with representative scalise. now the suspect's social media footprint shows he was anti-trump and a bernie sanders supporter. today senator sanders was one of the first lawmakers to

condemn the shooting. >> violence of any kind is unacceptable in our society and i condemn this action in the strongest possible terms. real change can only come about through nonviolent action and anything else runs counter to our most deeply held american values. adam: but there's a question that a lot of people are asking tonight, has all the fiery political rhetoric in the nation played into things like today's shooting? david asman joins me now, the co-host of fbn's "after the bell". david? >> well, you know, you used the word fiery political rhetoric. i would say murderous political rhetoric. what has happened, the accepted level of this rhetoric has come down to the level of these nut jobs like the guy who committed the shooting today. that's what's happened there.

has been this unity between a sickening, and i would call it murderous rhetorical level, and the mind-set of people like this. you can see it from the tweets, adam you mentioned the tweet or the facebook message that he put out, this guy put out, trump is a traitor, trump destroyed our democracy, it's time to destroy trump. there was a time when that would have seen absolutely incendiary. i did a factiva search on a data website, and i put together trump, traitor and destroyed and came up with 1900 articles since the president was elected. it has become normal discourse, and discourse like we've seen from a guy named john griffin, a professor out west in the state of washington talking about republicans saying they should be lined up and shot, again, what used to be totally abnormal has now become normal

and links up with the mind-set of people like this. now shakespeare in the park, of course, doing this rendition of "julius caesar" in which they have the main character dressed up like donald trump and, of course, he at the end of the play, julius caesar is murdered by comrades, former comrades, it's a very violent display on stage in central park. they're dressed up in modern dress. they're clearly supposed to be senators in the u.s. senate. he's clearly supposed to be donald trump, and the audience after this guy is killed, stands up and cheers. one of our producers called shakespeare in the park tonight to find out if they're running. they're not running the show tonight. they say wednesdays usually when they have a dark night anyway. we'll have to wait and see what happens tomorrow. totally unrepentant as kathy griffin gave an unapologetic

apology, we should say there has been talk about gabby giffords in all this, she had an analogous kind of shooting she was the victim of, and she has been very calm, she put out a tweet not long ago, a very soothing tweet, she said may we all come together with prayers for the survivors, love for friends and family and the courage to make this county its best. we do have a sense on the part of serious people like gabby giffords to try to bring us together as a nation, to try to bring -- adam: we talk about this being fiery rhetoric in washington, but what about across the nation? college campuses where students yell shut it down, won't listen to other people, shut it down. isn't that playing into this? >> of course it is. one of the people who suggested that republicans be lined up

and shot was a college professor. a lot of the college professors who i put more blame on than the students themselves are behind not only the rhetoric but the demonstrations themselves and the new rules that prohibit free speech. it comes down to the point it's either my way or the highway, and in the case of what happened today, either my way or perhaps even death. adam: david asman, one of the anchors at the fox business network. watch him every day at 4:00 p.m. david, thank you very much. >> thank you. adam: many people blame today's shooting on the toxic political discourse, the politicians in both parties are vowing to soften their tone. will it work? >> an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us. [applause]

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. adam: we're back with more on today's shooting at that congressional baseball practice, and president trump tweeted just moments ago -- with us now, with more on

reaction to what has happened today in the nation's capitol, guy benson, townhall.com political editor and a fox news contributor. guy, you know people on capitol hill and we saw unity today between democrats and republicans, the question that people who follow politics are asking is it will last? what do you think? >> i don't think unity in washington ever lasts, but i think in moments like this, it's worthwhile to come together and recognize our share at humanity, and this was an attack as speaker ryan said on the institutions that govern our country, and i think it was unnerving for these members of congress in both parties knowing that this was someone who acted violently apparently for political reasons in a way that was just so bone-chilling. so definitely, a chastened somber mood in washington today, and i think one of the things people are looking forward to in this town is tomorrow, the ball game that is

going on as scheduled, which is one of the few last vestiges of bipartisanship in washington, d.c. it's not being postponed. they're going to come together and i hope there will be a record turnout and record money raised for the charities. adam: let me ask you about that because you can go back years and years, ronald reagan and tip o'neill on opposite sides of the political spectrum, they were actually friends behind the scenes. does anybody have that relationship among the republicans and democrats now? >> it is less prevalent. i would put it that way. it doesn't not exist, right? there are people who are friends across the aisle. things get heated, they have drinks, that remains a staple in washington but i think it is more tribal than the past, and it's moments like today that focus the mind and remind everyone on capitol hill and elsewhere sometimes there is more to life than political disagreements, and i think that there are people in red ties and blue ties, red dresses and

blue dresses in this city who represent various parts of the country today watching their phones very closely, praying that congressman scalise pulls through because i think his condition as we heard from the president and from the statement from the hospital, he's not out of the woods yet, and that's frightening. adam: let me ask, and we do pray for representative scalise, but i want to ask you a political question about what happens with president trump's agenda, and this issue of unity. we know for instance with tax reform, part of what's being proposed, the reduction of deduction says a no starter for democrats, how do you reach across the aisle to get someone like chuck schumer to work with orrin hatch. is that ever going to happen or is the agenda going to be stalled? >> well, i don't think that a shooting like this is going to make the democrats all of a sudden agree that obamacare needs to be repealed or that tax reform should go the way that republicans want it to, right? these are fundamental disagreements on ideology, and

the way that we address fundamental disagreements in this country on ideology and policy is having elections not by shooting people, and so i am hopeful. i'm really not a fan, to be honest, adam, of the blaming of rhetoric or the left for the culture and actions of the gunman. i don't like blaming the gun. it is the person who did the shooting who is responsible, but i think that maybe hopefully people on all sides take a step back and say how are we treating each other? how are we talking to each other and maybe we shouldn't accuse each other of the worst motives all the time. that would be a healthy development. adam: guy benson, thank you for joining us this evening. >> thank you. adam: coming up after this break, i'm going to speak to an break, i'm going to speak to an alexandria, virginia resident

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♪ little boy blue and the man in the moon... ♪ . adam: new details continue to pour in regarding today's shooting at a baseball field where members of congress were practicing for the annual charity congressional baseball game, but it all began early this morning just after 7:00 with the shocking sound of gunfire [ gunshots ]

. adam: congressman steve scalise was fielding balls at second base when he was shot and witnesses say he dragged himself into the outfield. joining us now is owen britton, an alexandria resident who witnessed the chaos who we met this morning. i've got to tell people, when i spoke to you at the scene, owen, you described how you were concerned about other people because you were in the ymca as the gunbattle was ensuing, a bullet comes through the window and your concern was getting everybody else to safety, not your own. what was that like for you? >> first, i was also concerned about getting myself to safety, but also other people as well. there were people standing by the windows in the ymca, that seemed like a remarkably bad idea at the time. i tried to get them behind some walls. >> when you heard the gunshots, i think people like to say i would react this way.

no one knows how they truly react until you're in a situation like this. when you heard the gunshots, what was your immediate thought? >> get away from the windows and that i wanted to see if there was anyone who was engaging the shooter. i had a little bit of active shooter training at a college i used to work at, and i wanted to make sure that someone was on the scene, was responsible for reacting, so i wasn't causing issues with my nonreaction or inaction. adam: you are also very helpful to us this morning, you described what you saw, you identified the shooter as being almost 60 years old which, in fact, he was 66, but described he had the rifle, which it turned out as well. but you witnessed what's being described as the heroic reaction from the capitol hill police officers, describe again how you saw them engaging him to protecting people on the baseball field? >> sure, i saw two individuals who i believed to be capitol

police now. one of them was shooting with a handgun over the engine block of the black suv of the sort that they use in their operations. another was lying on the ground behind that vehicle. i believe now that she was injured at that time, and she was the female officer, perhaps who was lying between the wheel base of the suv and seemed to not being responding as one would in combat and therefore injured. adam: well, owen, i apologize that we've run out of time, but it was very impressive to meet you this morning. glad you are okay and that so many people are okay following what has been an unbelievable beginning to this day. thank you very much, owen britton. >> thank you. adam: thank you for joining us, fox business network will continue our coverage of this tragedy. be sure to watch fbn bright and early at 5:00 a.m. for the latest details as they develop overnight. until then, you have a good evening.

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