channel for continuing coverage of this story. i'm jon scott in new york. thank you for joining us, "outnumbered" starts right now. the >> sandra: fox news alert on a shooting at a congressional baseball practice just outside the capitol. a top house leader was hit and three others. the suspect identified as james hodgkinson, a 66-year-old man from illinois. president trump saying just a short time ago, he has died from his injuries. i'm sandra smith. this is "outnumbered," house majority whip steve's glaze shot in the hip and airlifted to the hospital for surgery. three other people were also shot including a staffer and two capitol hill police officers. we are told mr. scalise is in stable condition at this moment. congressman palmer says he was about 20 yards from the shooter. >> i heard a gunshot.

i think the initial shock, he was trying to hit trent and missed him. trent yelled shooter and we yelled to get off the field and he fired two more times and i saw scalise go down. >> sandra: other when it says describing a chaotic scene this morning. senator jeff flake was also in that field. >> i was the first out to steve and another member from ohio who is a physician came out and we applied pressure on the wound. he was coherent the whole time, but he laid out there for at least 10 minutes alone in the field. we couldn't get to them while they were shots. >> sandra: let's bring in leland, he is in virginia right across from that field at this moment. >> sandra, we'll take you through how this went down.

it's been relayed to us by eyewitnesses. we are in the outfield over this practice was taking place. the republicans out on the field, congressman scalise, we are told, majority whip is playing second base. witnesses say that gunman was somewhere between that third base dugout in that blue backstop there when he came out shooting. according to one eyewitness with an assault rifle. the shots began right at about 7: 10 this morning. the fact that the majority whip was here proves incredibly significant because it was his security detail that would then begin returning fire in this shoot-out that lasted, depend on who you talk to, between three and about 9 minutes.

everyone is on agreement that there were between 50 and 70 shots fired out on this baseball diamond and it very clear from witnesses that the shooter, james hodgkinson of illinois came well armed and on a missio mission. >> based on what you could see, was it clear that this gentleman was focused on shooting on the baseball field? he wasn't randomly shooting civilians or other people in the neighborhood? >> he was not randomly shooting at civilians from what i saw. he seemed to be focused on shooting at the assumed capital police officers who were in the black suv exchanging fire with him. >> congressman was shot in the hip, those two capital police officers also suffered injuries. it does not sound like either of those injuries are life-threatening. the head of the capital police saying he thought his officers acted in heroic fashion.

important to note when this was going down at 7:00 this morning, this is a very residential neighborhood. parents walking their children to school, people out walking their dogs as well. senator rand paul saying essentially had scalise's security det here, this could have been a massacre. >> sandra: we are looking at the video of a representative scalise being taken off that field. we are told he was talking at that time, obviously lying on the stretcher as he was taken off by emergency workers. leland, more on the capital police and the situation. we know this happened so fast. joe barton sang the police attacked the shooter and that saved our lives. we just heard those actions being highlighted by president trump as well sing many lives would have been lost if not for the heroic actions of the two capital police officers. we are still waiting on updates for everybody situation, but the

president says he has spoken with steve squeeze his wife. he is confident that steve's glaze will make a full recovery. >> exactly. in terms of injuries, this could have been so much worse. you understand why. according to the alexandria police, from the time of the first 911 call, it took their officers 3 minutes to arrive and that was 3 minutes that the shooter could have had essentially a completely open field to go after whoever he wanted. instead, he had congressman scalise is security detail returning fire. not all congressmen have security detail. because steve's police is a leader, he gets security detail certainly, a couple of well armed and well trained officers offer situations just like this.

congress also realizing that no now, eggs have certainly taken a different turn in the political discourse. there is a lot of discussions about that and we have heard that throughout the morning. they came out here to practice for the congressional baseball game. it's a huge fundraiser here in washington, d.c., and a chance for everyone to put aside partisan differences for a night of baseball and raise a lot of money for charity and there was just an announcement made on the house floor that that game is going to go forward and there was a rounding applause from the congressional floor when it was announced. a lot of people in washington saying i wasn't planning on going to congressional baseball game, but now i will and a sign of solidarity. essentially, a lot of folks in congress saying we will not be

deterred by this man's actions. >> sandra: we continue to watch that scene play out in alexandria, virginia. i want to open us up to the couch at this point. we've got former speaker of the house newt gingrich on the couch. it's good to have you here. what a day. >> newt: very sobering. first of all, we should be very grateful that nobody on the congressional side was killed. nobody working for congress was killed. i think our prayers ought to go out for steve's scalise and his family and the people who were wounded. i don't think any of us expected today for this turn to come. you had an increasing intensity of hostility on the left. i talk to college students regularly who say to me, if they openly are for trump, they get threatened.

some of them get death threats, we have the intensity on the left that is very real, whether it is somebody holding up the presidents head and blood or whether it's right here in new york city, a play that shows the president being assassinated or is democratic eating national politicians who are so angry they have to use vulgarity because they can't find in a common language. this intensity has been building since election night. >> newt: with respect, everything you're saying is true, but to talk about it in the terms of left and right right now in the wake of it, does that make sense? does it make it worse? do you rise above it and say we all need to stay calm and focus on the work ahead of us? >> newt: you had a series of things that tell people that it's okay to hate trump, it's okay to consider assassinating

trump and then suddenly we are supposed to rise above it. until the next time? >> this is a moment where you realize the climate has been so divisive and it's been so political and this is a time where you say these are all human beings whether you're republican or democrat, we are all americans, we are all in this fight together. you have been in washington for years. you have experienced many of them. do you compare this to anything that has been experienced on capitol hill? >> newt: when i was speaker, we had an incident one friday were suddenly the police broke into my office and told me to stay and i had no idea what was going on. two of our policeman had been killed directly under my office by a person who is deranged who came in and before he went to the metal detector pulled his pistol and started shooting. it was a very horrifying event. we are told in this case and

this is the only point i want to make. this guy goes out and says are they democrats or republicans? that's a pretty directed kind of behavior. i don't know of any time in recent history where they have the kind of level of intensity that we see growing. maybe you are right and maybe this is the moment where everybody takes a step back i'm a but we know evidence of that and i have been communicating. i go out on campuses, i have young people tell me how threatened they are. >> sandra: on the other side, they'll say the rights right's fault for inciting this. i'm only saying what the other side is saying. they will say that trump's language on the trail, that the president -- i'm not agreeing with us at all, i'm only bringing it to the couch. >> sandra: at this point, we are dealing with the news. as he continued to see these

live pictures, the fbi is heading up this investigation and they are going to continue to provide us updates. i'll bring in gillian turner. we are expecting the house of representatives to adjourn at any moment. we are going to hear from house speaker paul ryan and nancy pelosi. they are going to open up with a prayer and then we will hear from leadership in the house as all of this unfolds. >> gillian: i think this is a wake-up call for washington, for the governing class in the united states. i think that the message here for the rest of the country is that it's time to really lead by example and that starts with congress, it starts with the executive branch and it starts with the judicial branch. it's incumbent upon the governing class in washington to do their best to if not and the gridlock, then to at least and

that hellacious rhetoric that has done nothing but divide our nation over the last election cycle. today is a poignant tragedy coming on the heels of what has been the most heated political season we've seen in many years. it puts a fine point on the problem at hand and i think it really is a wake-up call for bipartisanship. anyone who is not calling for that today is doing americans a disservice. >> abby: in that moment, president trump is very measured, calm, he spoke to this cleese family saying the prayers of not just the city come about the nation are with him. he really came across as someone who is leading this country and you can argue that he doesn't always come across that way, but in that moment, it was a message of this nation needs to hear right now. >> newt: he was very presidential and he did what a president should do which is try to bring us all together at a

moment when there is a crisis. i watched bill clinton do this brilliantly after the oklahoma city bombing. his ability to bring the country together and a moment of crisis. i thought president trump today good job. >> sandra: he broke the news of the subject was dead. we still have not had that confirmation directly from the hospital, but the president started with that. >> newt: i suspect he's getting immediate reports from the fbi. i agree with you, i thought the president was exacting what he should be today. i think it will be wonderful if he came out of this moment and we went to bipartisanship. >> melissa: i don't know if it's bipartisanship as it is turning the temperature down. that's what i'm getting at and i think that's what a lot of people are feeling. we're not saying deny how you feel, but is there a way to turn

the temperature down? >> newt: first of all, nobody from either party condones somebody who is deranged who goes out and starts shooting people. let's be clear, this is not a partisan thing. on the other hand, a lot of the tensions you are seeing is legitimate, its historically real. donald trump was elected by a group of people who want him to enact profound change. if you are the folks who don't want to change, he's an enormous threat to you. if you watched yesterday where i thought the attorney general was brilliant. his tension with his former colleagues, this is very real. the kind of country we are going to be over the next 20 years, it will change very dramatically based on what trump is trying to do. i think people on the left are legitimately frightened. ed represents such a different world. on election night at 8:00, they

thought hillary was going to win and they would continue going the direction they were going in for years. at 11:00 that night, donald trump won and it's a shock of that change that led to the intensity we are seeing. the intensity is real. it is not because people have bad tempers or because -- >> gillian: you think about the most divisive place to be and we're supposed to hear from nancy pelosi momentarily, these two people coming together, what is the mood like on capitol hill after a moment like this when often you have people fighting all day long? >> newt: first of all, it's very sobering. all of us are potentially targets, we can all potentially have something like this happen. i think there's a sense of real concern and a bipartisan sense of concern for steve's police and the people who have been

wounded. at a human level, it's family coming together. it's an opportunity to have some conversations. >> sandra: we know house leadership is on the floor. following their prayer and pledge, there will be brief remarks by paul ryan, speaker of the house and democratic leader nancy pelosi. afterwards, the house will adjourn. no votes are expected in the house today. we are waiting for that to happen. we've heard from the president already. something else we are learning about the suspect, the belleville illinois suspect. a lot of digging being done on him, who he was, what his past was. so far we can confirm that he lived in belleville, so they cannot dig into his criminal past yet. let's listen in on the house floor at this moment.

>> men and women who have taken very public responsibility for our country that carries so many burdens and today, the reminder shared danger. may this day be characterized by kindness, goodwill, and compassion one to another. god bless america and may all that is done this day be for your greater honor and glory, amen. >> the chair will lead the house in the pledge of allegiance and invites members of the gallery to join.

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. my colleagues, they are very strong emotions today. we are all horrified by this

dreadful attack on our friends and colleagues and those who serve and protect this capital. we are all praying for those who were attacked and their families. steve scalise, zachary barth, met micah, special agent david bailey, special agent crystal grinder. we are all giving our thoughts to those being treated for the injuries of this moment. and we are united. we are united in our shock, we are united in our english, and attack on one of us is an attack on all of us. [applause]

i know we want to give our thanks to the first responders and to the alexandria police department who were on the scene in minutes. i know this house wants to state unequivocally that we are, as ever, awed by the tremendous bravery of the capital police. [applause]

i spoke with special agent bailey and special agent greiner this morning. one was being treated and one was about to go into surgery. i expressed our profound gratitude to them. it is clear to me, based on various eyewitness accounts, that without these two heroes, agent bailey and agent greiner, many lives would have been lost. [applause] i know that we want to learn as much as we can about what happened. we just all received a briefing from the sergeant of arms. i have complete confidence in the investigation is being

conducted by the capital police, the fbi, who are also working with local law enforcement. i know we want to extend our gratitude for the outpouring of support that we have received throughout the capital answer of the country. and now, knowing steve's stomach steve scully says we all do, he is probably really frustrated that he can't play in the baseball game. i know that he also wants us to commend the bravery of those who came to the aid of the wounded. in the coming days, we will hear their stories and we will have the chance to hold up their heroism. my colleagues, there are so many memories from this day that we want to forget, and there are so many images that we will not want to see again. there is one image in particular that this house should repeat and that is the photo i saw this morning of our democratic colleagues gathered in prayer this morning after hearing the news. every day we come here to test

and to challenge each other. we feel so deeply about the things that we fight for in the things that we believe in, at times, our emotions can clearly get the best of us. we are all imperfect, but we do not shed our humanity when we enter this chamber. for all the noise and all the fury, we are one family. these were our brother and sisters in the line of fire. these were our brothers and sisters who ran into danger and saved countless lives. before this house returns to its business, let's just slow down and reflect, to think about how we are all being tested right now, because we are being tested right now. i ask each of you to join me to resolve and come together, to lift each other up and to show the country, to show the world

that we are one house, the people's house, united in our humanity. it is that humanity which will win the day and it always will. god bless. i yield. [applause] >> mr. speaker, i rise to join the distinguished speaker and paying tribute to the men and women of the capital police force and also, and sadness, the assault that was made on our

colleagues and members of the staff. to my colleagues, you'll hear me say something you never heard me say before. i identify myself with the remarks the speaker. they are beautiful remarks, mr. speaker. thank you so much for the sentiments that they represent, thank you so much. [applause] again, we are not one caucus or the other in this house today, but we speak for each other and saying that we send our thoughts and prayers to our colleague steve scalise. personally, we have our italian-american connection so as soon as i heard his name, i was filled with concern as i would be for anyone here, but we have that special connection.

i'll be asking you every 5 minutes, how is steve coming along? and also to zach barth and roger williams office, and of course, as a speaker acknowledged, crystal greiner and david bailey and acknowledging their sacrifice and how fortunate we all were that they were on the scene because of their lives would have probably been lost. i want us to remember that every single day, the capital police protect all of us, take risks for us, and while a day like this where we can focus on it, it doesn't mean that other days aren't as challenging. especially i want to call attention to detective john gibson and officer jacob tests -- 1988 in july, they lost

their lives protecting the congress and capital. not just the members of congress, the staff, the press, and our visitors, people who come to see this capital, this great oedipus to democracy known throughout the world. they are protecting a great deal and it is an attraction and that makes it all the more risky. you may not know this my colleagues, but every time i pray which is frequently and certainly every sunday, i pray for all of you. all of you together. the earlier years, i used to pray for your happiness, for the fact that we were working together, heed the words of president kennedy in the closing of his inaugural address when he said god's work must truly be

our own. how do we view what god's will is for us? how to become together to give confidence to the american people? we would have our disagreements and we would debate them and we would have confidence and belief and humility to listen to other others. in more recent years, i have been pregnant only only for that, but for our safety. i, above anyone in here has been the target -- political target and therefore, the target of more threats than anyone, perhaps then the president of the united states, barack obama. and so, i prayed for barack obama and i continue to pray for him and i pray for donald trump, that his presidency will be successful and that his family will be saf safe. it is about family. we are called for a purpose to

this body. it's a great thing and we know what it means to serve and we recognize that in others. we also recognize that you have constituents and we have ours and we respect you and your constituents who sent you here. all worthy of respect. but we do have our differences. so i pray, my prayer is that we can resolve our differences in a way that furthers the preamble to the constitution, takes us closer. today, again, it's in the family. it's an injury in the family. for the staff and for our colleague and his leadership. as i mentioned just a minute ago, sports are a wonderful

thing in our country, probably one of the most unified. we like to say music or plays, but sports really bring us together in our cities. you see people who have the biggest difference of opinion in politics and yet, when their team is on the field, people come together. people come together. when this team is on the field practicing with such camaraderie and such brotherhood, i don't know if you have any sisters on your team, we have two on our team. for this person to take this action was so cowardly, so cowardly. we learn more about motivation and the rest of that. it seems particularly sad. any violent death is sad, but particularly sad that at a time when people want us to come together and we are prepared to

come together tomorrow night that this assault would be made. we cannot let that be a victory for the assailant or anyone who would think that way. tomorrow, we go out on the field, will root for our team, we want everyone to do his or her very best and we will use this occasion as one that brings us together and not separate us further. with that, again, i want to think the speaker for bringing us together and again, with endless gratitude to the police, particularly today of course. never out of our prayers, detective john gibson. thank you, my colleagues for the opportunity to share some thoughts with you on this sad day. steve and others, you are deeply in our prayers. please convey that to him, mr. speaker. thank you to you all. [applause]

the >> sandra: that was how his leadership addressing the house of representatives, nancy pelosi, paul ryan on the house floor. moments ago, paul ryan lead things off as a house adjourned it saying we are united. we are united and are shot, we are united in our english. an attack on one of us as an attack on all of us. nancy pelosi then took to addressing the floor saying i identify with the remarks of the speaker. i pray for donald trump, that his presidency will be successful and that his family will be safe. all this after the shooting at a congressional baseball practice in alexandria, virginia this morning. the house minority whip, steve scalise is undergoing surgery. the president spoke before all of this, confirming the suspect

is dead. the fbi is leading the investigation at this moment. former speaker of the house, newt gingrich is on the sofa with us. what did you make of the remark remarks? >> newt: could have been a good of speech as paul ryan has ever made. he used exactly the right language and he is speaking to the country and speaking to the entire house. you saw that and nancy pelosi's initial reaction which was totally to embrace what he said. just as you pointed out earlier, the president rose to the occasion today. i think that here, you had ryan as the speaker of the whole house, not leader of the republicans speaking. >> sandra: before he began, we are talking on the sofa about the emotions that must be running through there today. he led by saying there are very strong emotions today. an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us. i want to give us news and

hear -- we learned coming about bernie sanders and his campaign connection to the suspect. again, confirmed dead and the president. bernie sanders is saying in a statement, i've just been informed of the alleged shooter at the republic in baseball practice is someone who apparently volunteered on my presidential campaign. he is expected to speak to that in a little while. your thoughts? >> newt: first of all, you can't hold bernie sanders responsible for every volunteer who shows up in his campaign. i think it was a smart of him to get that information out early estimate as he knew it, but i don't think anybody should suspect -- suggested has anything to do a pretty sanders. >> melissa: denouncing it in the strongest language -- he wanted to denounce it. when speaker ryan said and all the noise and on the fury, we are one.

it has to make people who were actually there and actually colleagues of the people who were shot, like he said, it's very sobering. at the moment, it could turn down the temperature and a sense in me for a bit. >> abby: it seems like there is an aching for that. people are wanting some sort of compromise, for people to come together. we got a statement from congress -- at the time when congress able to come together, she said it doesn't matter if you're democrat or republican, if you serve the institution of congress, you're connected to your colleagues former and current. the shooting is an attack on all who served. pretty powerful coming from her. >> newt: there are about 40 members of the house who have been working together to find common ground.

i suspect their numbers will rise dramatically. there are a lot of people at the center who are very, very bothered by the level of intensity and hostility and they would like to trying to find a way to get things done as opposed to attacking each other. >> sandra: when you reference such strong language that bernie sanders used to condemn this attack, this man apparently volunteered on this presidential campaign. ernie sanders said i'm sickened by this despicable act. let me be as clear as i can be. violence of any kind is on's acceptable >> gillian: there's not a lot to do but condemn it. this is a national security crisis as someone who focuses on those issues. this is the worst kind of national security crisis. you've got an american is perpetrating violence against other civilian americans. i think that was the approach we

saw from president trump in his remarks earlier, not just a rally and people emotionally, but thinking, talking to the ongoing investigation, this is what the fbi is doing. there's a lot of really important critical work to be done in the next few hours. in the wake of an attack like this, the country's most vulnerable. what we are seeing from the fbi, just like they would come out there string with the suspect and then they are opening the investigation and widening concentric circles to look for who has affiliates were, what his motivations were, who he associates with, how long he's been thinking about this. we're going to see a lot of information, over the next hour, 24 hours, 48 hours that will create more of a holistic picture but who this person was in the can start to draw conclusions. right now, we have suspicions as to his motivation. >> abby: we have to be careful. we don't have all the facts and hearing bernie sanders come out

ahead of all this, i think it speaks to our culture lately and our society. we are so quick to point fingers and put out the blame game and i think bernie sanders is aware of that like we all are to say this will be reported on that this was a volunteer in my campaign, of course is not his fault, but it was smart of him to get ahead of it because he knows the reaction on social media, you can control it anymore. >> newt: we live in a world where if you don't get it out in a manner of minutes, your behind the curve. this whole system of social communication is changed so radically. he did the right thing in the smart thing. >> sandra: we got new details coming in on the condition of house majority whip steve scalise who was airlifted to the hospital and underwent surgery. a second victim also being rushed to the facility. griff jenkins is live at medstar hospital.

>> here at the hospital, it's a level one trauma hospital, probably the biggest and around 8:00, a helicopter arrived here bringing congressman scalise. we learned the other victim is one of the u.s. capitol police agents on speech anyone's detail and her name is krystal greiner. she was shot in the foot or leg, somewhere in the lower extremities. the hospital is not confirming or commenting on whether she also went into surgery. let me point out as well that i have very recent information that congressman scalise is still in surgery. he had gone in stable. david bailey was not shot. crystal greiner was a shot, david bailey hurt his ankle or somehow was injured in the melee and of course, we have heard everyone from the president to speaker ryan and minority leader pelosi praising the heroic

actions of the u.s. capitol police. since i've been here, aside from the d.c. police keeping security -- i've seen a number of police vehicles arriving and folks going in presumably for security or even to support their colleagues. the security detail is a smaller detail and would presumably be a tighter knit group of folks. congressman scalise's chief of staff are inside the hospital and have been here since shortly after the congressman arr him. of course, his office releasing a statement that he was able to talk to his wife before surgery.

we have a congressman steve scalise still in surgery, but hopefully stable and expected to come out of that. we know crystal greiner was a shot somewhere in the lower extremities, the foot or leg. we would presume she is in surgery as well because she's been shot with a high caliber rifle. we hope to hear some news about that. there is a press briefing microphone stakeout set up for the hospital. we will update you the second that happens. >> sandra: thank you. the update there is the two agents i had been reported shot, one we are learning is crystal greiner, shot in the foot or the leg according to griff jenkins. david bailey, not shot, but injured, not at that hospital he is reporting from. this is where we are at in this. newt gingrich is with us. we are continuing to gather more details. the investigation is being

underway. >> newt: one of the problems with real-time information is the actual process is slower than the dead man's of television. over time, we'll learn a lot more. some of it may take a day or two, they have to look at other background. i was surprised that they learned as rapidly as they did who they is, what his initial background is. this is pretty rapid investigative stuff. you can count on the fbi devoting whatever resources. >> sandra: sometimes when you're locked into a battle, and it turns into the work that is trying to be done. you need a reason or an excuse to compromise and save face. i wonder if there is an opportunity in coming together for people to maybe step in and

negotiate again and get things done. you can see is on the sentiment and not lose face in negotiations. >> newt: ed partly depends on the leadership. again, one of the great challenges we have is a profoundly division of the future between where trump wants to go and where nancy pelosi and chuck schumer and even more to the left people like elizabeth warren want to go. you can be personable. my whole career with people like apart or tom foley who was speaker of the house, you have good personal relations. that doesn't mean you betray your caucus or conference.

it was easier to work with bill clinton because as long as the deal was somewhere in this box, he wanted a deal. when you start dealing with people when they're over here and you are over here, it's not very productive. there is an opportunity here to be a little more bipartisan. they just passed a reform bill on a huge bipartisan vote. it gets much harder when you start talking about what kind of judge and still nominate. nominate. all of a sudden, echoes to be legitimately partisan. but doesn't mean it's personal hostility. >> gillian: i move to washington 11 years ago and i

heard increasingly folks and the policy communities there and politics also bemoan the loss of camaraderie between folks from different sides of the aisle. people like to hearken back to a time, may be 15 years ago and folks from different sides of the aisle would battle things out on the house floor, on the senate floor and they come together and socialize in that sort of eroded. >> newt: think about people you know personally who cannot have a political argument in their family at sunday dinner. >> gillian: you don't bring up politics. i will say is this baseball game that they were practicing for, it's the one time in the year that congress got so excited. they come together, they all practice, it was all about athleticism. you have to say, we are still the most resilient nation in this world. our reporter on the ground said this game is still going on

tomorrow night. many people we talk to you in alexandria so they weren't planning to go, but after this happened, they will be at this game. you can talk about politics, but this is a good moment to say we are pretty strong nation and we continue to move on. >> sandra: we want to go to capitol hill. chad program is there. steve's glutes was shot along with two others, one being a capitol hill aid and one being one of the officers. what are you learning? >> i was hearing very early on that the other officer might have gotten some sort of fragments and we talked a lot about the safety provided by the u.s. capitol police about something i want to point out our aids. aids seemed to always be on the front line when these things go down. we had an aide who was shot today, when gabby giffords was shot in arizona, we had david zimmerman who was her age and

was killed. there have been a number of aids over the years who have been shot or even killed. that's the reason why there is a room named after gabe zimmerman. it's a room that democrats meet in. there have only been a few aids killed in the line of duty. you had some aids killed -- after they gabby giffords shooting, there is a very poignant moment on capitol hill when john lawrence, who is the chief of staff to nancy pelosi and barry jackson who is the chief of staff to john boehner, they led a bipartisan vigil and they walked down together down

the house steps and had a moment of silence to demonstrate that aids are also often on the front line >> sandra: for a lot of people, we are right in the middle of the workday here. this happened when a lot of people are on their way to work. just to recap what happened here, a congressional baseball practice was taking place in alexandria, virginia. we are now learning that the suspect, who the president said it is now dead, a 66-year-old man from illinois, approached from behind the dugout, shot down steve's police, one capitol hill aid and one capitol hill police officer. and injured another in all of this. it's a moment for this country when things are so divided.

how do things change here? does this bring the country together, albeit even for a short time? >> that was the brief pause that happened when giffords was shot. i think they were supposed to vote on health care. republicans had just gotten majority back in early 2011 and everything on capitol hill came to a screeching halt for a couple of days because one of their members had been shot. we've had two members of shot and six and a half years. i start to wonder about whether or not they're going to rethink some of the security. they don't have a u.s. capitol police details on every member. they have long told me it's impossible to do that. they only put it with the leadership and maybe they should come out and perhaps protect a ball game like this. there would have been no u.s. capitol police present had it not been for steve's police we want to get to congressman rodney davis, republican from illinois. he was on the field.

can you give us an idea of how the scene was and how it all played out? >> it was as crazy airwaves and on tv. i heard what i thought was a loud noise. a construction site dropping a large piece, the next thing i heard was one of my colleagues saying run, he's got a gun and i did just that. >> sandra: what did you see as far as the suspect is concerned? what was the first thing that made you run? >> first thing that made me run was my colleagues saying ron, he's got a gun. you just don't expect to hear that when you go out to practice for baseball game that talks about bipartisanship and shows

bipartisanship and raises hundreds of thousands of dollars for those who needed the most most in the d.c. area. >> sandra: obviously, we are still waiting on an update on steve scalise. he was carried out that field bleeding, but still talking. the president has said that they do expect for him to make a full recovery. what was that like? >> let me tell you. as a horrifying scene that i never will get out of my mind. i hope to never experience it again. as i was running for cover, you look out on the baseball field and you see your friend, this isn't just a republican leader, with, or congressman, this is my friend lying motionless in the outfield. of course, i thought the worst. these are the things that we have to think about when we hear the political rhetorical hate that we have seen and today's society and we have to take a step back.

those on the media, those on social media, make today the day that we stand up against those who turn hate into violence. >> sandra: capital police were on the scene. there was a very quick response there. the president was very complimentary and highlighted their actions, saving many lives would have been lost if not for the heroic actions of the two capitol hill police officers that acted so quickly there today. what did you see as far as the emergency response in that fiel field? >> president trump is 100% correct. without the great capitol hill police officers that were there, many of us may not be alive today. they were aggressive and charging the suspect. he engaged and that allowed many of us to be able to take cover. they are the true heroes of today. we are going to come together as

republicans and democrats, will play this baseball game and i hope to use your show to tell everyone that carries abrupt bipartisanship donate to this game and raise the most we can. >> sandra: i'm sorry, we are taking on, they're so much news happening and as we are speaking to on the phone, we have a live picture up in alexandria, virginia. so much going on as far as emergency response and investigations being led by fbi right now. congressman, we are so thankful that you could jump on and share what you saw and share your story with us. our thoughts and prayers continue to be with congressman scalise as he undergoes surgery in the hospital right now. as well as the aid and the other capitol hill officer that was shot. thank you. we are waiting to talk to rod wheeler and a second. more on this investigation.

he joins us now. can you give us an idea what this investigation looks like at this point? >> absolutely. there's a lot going on. it's a multiagency investigation. you have the fbi taking lead on the investigation. they're finding out as much as they can about this shooter, who is this person, where did he come from, did he have any associates, did anybody egg him along? in addition to that, you have the atf because they are doing a trace on the weapon. when did he purchase it? did this guy have a vehicle? were there any warning signs? investigators i do nothing but look at social media. we are trying to establish footprints. did he say anything on the internet and at the end of the day, all these things will come together and they will share

their information with each other. >> sandra: we are looking at a 66-year-old man from illinois. he came from unincorporated belleville, not the actual city of belleville, so st. clair county sheriff's say that they are familiar with him, but they would not have handled any criminal activity. they're waiting for more confirmation when his background was, what his record was. they also will be holding a news conference later today. this is all we know at this point and as far as the illinois policy institute pointing out that there is info online, there's been a lot of digging done -- he's voted democrat. we also learned from bernie sanders that he volunteered on his presidential campaign. i say this just to give you the news of what we are learning.

>> is going to take two or three days. they're going to do an autopsy on that guy's body. these things are important to the investigation. the investigation begins right now. >> sandra: thanks for jumping on the phone. this suspect, confirm by president trump himself, confirmed dead. the digging is being done. a turning point, speaker? >> newt: probably not, but there was at least a pause.

people will stop, take a deep breath. it will be terrific if the president went to the game tomorrow night. it's really a sense of being a ready together. the more people who are together, the better off we'll be. the >> melissa: now people are focused on the idea that it was only the with himself what security there is no one else did and that that is standard practice. do you think that may be some those practices change? >> newt: i hope not. we are a country, we run the risk if you want to be in public life that unless you're there president or vice president, people can walk up to you, they can muck up to you anywhere, talk to you, tell you what they think. we start surrounding these folks with layers and guards.

>> gillian: you think back to when you are speaker. it was a really peaceful neighborhood and alexandria, it's like we're living in this world where it's quite unsettling. >> newt: nancy pelosi spoke with the two policemen who were killed when i was speaker. when i was a junior member, we had a terrorist try to set off a bomb in the house chamber while i was there and the police -- we have a long -- we have puerto rican nationals who shot at president truman. we've a long tradition of saying where a free country. i would hate to see us back off of that because there is an occasional deranged person. we have to recognize in a free society that's the risk of freedom.

>> gillian: if we get to a place where the only way that american citizens can interact with the representatives is by scheduling a meeting and traveling to washington, the quality of democracy over time certainly erodes and that's a slippery slope. abby has a great point that we have to protect our representatives, but we can't surround them with layers of security because it makes them unreachable. that's not the way we want the government to work. >> sandra: we heard from the president just before the top of the hour and also from house leadership at the top of the hour. paul ryan saying very strong emotions running through the house today. they are horrified by this horrific attack. an attack on one of us as an attack on all of us. the president also highlighting the heroic actions of those two capitol hill police officers. they quickly act on the scene. many more lives could have been lost had they not acted so heroically.

our thoughts and prayers are with those injured. right here on the fox news channel, continuing coverage on "happening now" now >> jon: we begin with this fox news alert, the shooting of steve scalise and others on the ball field -- the shooter is now dead. to speed beyond the gunfire rang out after 7:00 a.m. this morning at the ballpark. the public and lawmakers had gathered to practice for their charity baseball game, which will go on as scheduled. the good news, it appears that the victims will all survive. among the injured, congressman scalise who underwent surgery for gunshot wound to the hip. also injured, a congressional staffer