the gunman was taken out. among them house majority whip steve scalise who is critically hurt. abc7 has team coverage tonight led by nancy chen at the capitol and jonathan elias at the scene of the ambush in del ray. jonathan: it has been 12 hours since the shooting at the simpson field behind me. earlier this morning this is where the member of congress, republican members were gathering for a practice to get ready for a charity game tomorrow night at nats park. after 7:00, a busy place. a lot of folks walking a dog, getting a walk in before they headed to work. that is when it was interrupted by gunfire. not a couple of shots. a lot of shots went off in the park right now. the game we understand will go on despite what took place on the field. let me show you a mass cam version, a bird's-eye view of the field. you can see house majority whip steve scalise was on second base. the gunman was over by the third base line standing in the grand stand to shoot over the fence. that is where we understand he

opened fire according to witnesses. we understand that mr. scalise was hit in the hip. it dropped him to the ground. he dragged himself into the outfield, but that was one of many shots fired. he was shooting at anything, cars, the dugout, you name it. our brad bell has been covering the investigation from the get-go and he joins us now from the latest. brad? [gunfire] brad: representative mo brooks was still shaking as he told us of diving for cover. he saw the gunman. looked right at him. [gunfire] >> a white male taking careful aim at congressman, staffers, whoever he could get ahold of. brad: brooks also saw house majority whip steve scalise go down. >> the emotional shock of seeing your friend shot, where you are helpless. you have a baseball bat. they have a rifle. you're defenseless. brad: two capitol police

crystal griner assigned to scalise were there and returned fire and despite being wounded themselves managed to take down the shooter. tonight they are being called heroes. >> we are all alive because of the capitol police. had they not been there we would have all been killed. brad: the shooter identified as 66-year-old james hodgkinson of illinois. a seemingly unemployed man who had been staying in alexandria. senator bernie sanders confirming hodgkinson volunteered for his campaign. the f.b.i. examining his social media posts. which have been critical of president trump and republicans. those who survived the shootings believe they were targeted. >> you have to assume he knew what he was doing here. >> he's behind home plate. brad: now joining me life from the scene of the shooting, we can tell you that the f.b.i. had a press conference 30 minutes ago. they gave us a little new

mr. hodgkinson. they were telling us that he was living out of his car right here along east monroe street right near where the evidence vehicles are now and where that ball field is. the f.b.i. says they know a lot about him but they want to know more. so they have put out this seeking informationfullyier -- seeking information flier. james t. hodgkinson, deceased. this is posted on the website. the f.b.i. wants to hear from anybody who can shed light on what the guy's motive may have been for the shooting here in alexandria. jonathan? jonathan: brad, it would be nice if they figure out why he came here in the first place. thank you for your report. this is an area that is very quiet. del ray is as bucolic as it gets. a lot of place where families want to start families because it's quiet. they never hear ambulance sirens or sirens of any kind around here. shellshocked is describing how people react after what happened. the gunfire went on what

many minutes with gunfire from the capitol police and the gunman shooting at each other. all around there are markings of the gunfight because there are bullet holes as i said earlier in cars, windows, at the ymca. that is the backdrop for that. there were bullet holes in the windows there and the side as well. you hear stories that some people in nearby apartments and doors were opening their doors taking people running from the scene trying to find a place to hide. >> there was chaos. people screaming. there were people running. people that were in the dog park adjacent to the baseball field laying flat on the ground. we started to see people running toward us to try to find cover wherever they could. we started hollering for them. they found us. and came over and took shelter in the building. jonathan: you compare it to the scenes we have been seeing since the shooting. coolers of free water for the police and the media covering this and sign and messages of love. clearly this is a

that is not giving into fear but rather quickly trying to turn things around. nancy: wonderful to hear, jonathan. a similar message on capitol hill. lawmakers from both sides of the aisle joining together. we are told that members of the democratic national baseball team will dine with the republican counterpart. alison starling shows us this is after a day of powerful messages. president trump: congressman steve scalise, a member of house leadership, was shot and badly wounded and is now in stable condition at the hospital. along with two very kayous cap -- courageous capitol police officers. alison: president trump the first to address the nation. also announcing that the man who opened fire on congressman scalise and four others died. speaker paul ryan praising the capitol police officers who acted quickly to take down the shooter. speaker ryan: i know the

wants to state unequivocally we are as ever awed by the tremendous bravery of the capitol police. [applause] alison: his counterpart nancy pelosi echoing his sentiments. >> we are not one caucus or another in the house today but we speak for each other in saying we send our thoughts and prayers to our colleague steve scalise. alison: in the senate, a moment of recognition for the victims. >> we will keep them in our prayers and we will continue to send them every wish for a quick and full recovery. alison: across capitol hill, a broader message that this is a tragedy that crosses party lines. >> we are united. we are united in our shock. we are united in our anguish. an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us. [applause] nancy: our coverage on the hill will continue shortly with a look at security change

in the meantime, send it back to michelle in the studio. michelle: thank you. i'm joined by our senior investigative reporter lisa fletcher. you have been digging into the background of this suspected shooter in this case. you know when you look at the evil from today, and hear from the neighbors who say he was a nice guy, it's really tough to make sense of this. lisa: it is. it's often the case in these sort of shootings. we hear from people that live nearby or close to him saying he was a nice guy. we found some things happening in his personal life that along with his deeply troubled state about u.s. politics, may have had serious impact on him. 66-year-old james hodgkinson ran a home inspection business for more than a decade. but dissolved the company j.t.h. services at the end of last year. a neighbor told us hodgkinson left his wife and they hadn't seen him for some time. hodgkinson's reportedly living in alexandria for the last two months. hodgkinson was outspoken on social media about a his dislike for the trump administration. on march 22, he posted, "trump

trump has destroyed our democracy. time to destroy trump and company." a neighbor we spoke with who asked not to be named at this to say. >> i'm afraid politics put him over the edge with the way this country is headed. he was definitely a big liberal. i guess when trump got in, he might have went off the deep end. never talked to him about politics. i thought he was a really nice guy. lisa: james hodgkinson supported bernie sanders for president and was a volunteer on his campaign in iowa. he has a history of run-ins with police mostly for traffic violations dating back to 1970's. but in 2006 he was charged with domestic battery and causing bodily harm and damage to a motor vehicle. the cases were eventually dismissed. investigators are now trying to determine hodgkinson's motive, mental state and whether he shared his plans with anyone else. michelle: our efforts to learn more about the gunman include going to his last home in

we expect our tim barber to be there within the hour. >> we just landed in st. louis at the airport. we are about 45 minutes from james hodgkinson's house where he used to live with his wife and kids. we are told he no longer lives there. but we are told that the f.b.i. is at the home in southern illinois. we are going to head to the house to gather more information. as soon as we get it, we will bring it to you on abc7 news and newschannel8. reporting from the st. louis airport, tim barber, abc7 news. doug: after a fourth consecutive days in the 90's things are cooling off. with that comes thunderstorms south of the area. spotsylvania,

for years, fios has been promising fast internet to small businesses. but for many businesses, it's out of reach. why promise something you can't deliver? comcast business is different. ♪ ♪ we deliver super-fast internet with speeds of 250 megabits per second across our entire network, to more companies, in more locations, than fios. we do business where you do business. ♪ ♪ ♪ [doorbell] ♪ ♪

you get the care you need to help you thrive. ♪ visit kp.org to learn more. kaiser permanente. thrive. ♪

michelle: u.s. marshals arrested two men in connection with the large fight outside the residence of the turkey's ambassador in d.c. the men were arrested in virginia and new jersey on assault charges. security personnel for the turkey's visiting president attacked anti-turkey protesters in sheridan circle. this happened may 16. nine people were hurt in that fight. smoke continues to billow from the blackened shell of an apartment building in london. the death toll from last night's inferno stands at 12. verdictses are --

searching for additional victims. no word what sparked the fire but residents said for year the building was a fire hazard. coming up, we return to alexandria where five people are hurt. a congressman critically wounded after today's

so, when it's your turnt to do the shopping and you need to get... raspberries for john... strawberries for amy... bananas for mom...wait, what's a jicama? and at these prices, i can make it all happen. take a fresh look at giant's produce prices.

the emotional shock of seeing your friends shot where you are helpless. you have a baseball bat. they have a rival. you are defenseless. jonathan: a baseball field turned crime scene. investigators are still going over inch of the ballpark and even outside looking for any kind of evidence. this is where a 66-year-old man from illinois opened fire on congressman and staffers as they were practicing for a charity baseball game. tonight we are learning much more about the five victims shot in the rampage that broke out after 7:00 this morning. house majority whip, we know steve scalise was shot in the hip while playing second base. at this hour, we know had undergone surgery. he is still listed in critical condition. a congressional aide wounded and a lobbyist, matt mika, just out of surgery and

multiple times. also hurt two capitol police officers there to protect scalise because he is part of leadership. that is the only reason the two people with weapons are here to fight back and defend what others are describing as a massacre. it's believed that the gunmen were shot by the officers and killed. the heroes that they carried out is the big talk on capitol hill. that is where nancy chen joins us. nancy: good evening to you. within minutes of the shots ringing out across the river in del ray, security was stepped up here on the nation's capitol. stephen tschida is joining us now from the senate and the house office buildings. the changes have been noticeable but inside and outside. stephen: well, it's tangible, nancy. you can see the capitol police here, the presence is very strong today. i can tell you when i arrived here today you could sense the urgency. this was just shortly after

the capitol. word of the shooting spread. shootings jeff duncan believes that politics motivated. >> i would make that assumption. because he has asked me if the team was the republican or the democrat team practicing. i responded it was the republican team practicing. he proceeded to shoot republicans. stephen: some striving for unity amid fear and worry for the colleagues. >> at a moment like this we are asking questions and figuring out what the motives were this is a time to unite and put the differences aside. stephen: despite the sense of urgency here, one thing that stood out. throngs of the tourists coming trying to get in the u.s. capitol. for them it seemed like a

normal day. albeit with a bit more scrutiny perhaps. reporting live, stephen tschida, abc7 news. nancy: thank you very much. congressman scalise is the 17th member of congress to be shot while in office. that is not including others targeted with explosion is or poisons -- explosives or poisons. but the most recent was gabrielle giffords who was shot six years ago meeting with constituents in tucson. the previous shooting was in 1978 when congressman leo ryan was assassinated. five members were shot in an attack outside the capitol in 1954. world news with david muir live from washington continuing our coverage at 6:30. we will also continue our live coverage on newschannel8 ahead at 7:00 p.m. but for now, michelle, back to you. michelle: all right, nancy. thank you. be sure to stay with us for all the updates. meanwhile, weather wise the big story is the heat. one more day of the heatwave. is this it

through earlier but we hit 91 before it happened. now we have a couple of days of relief. we will start a time lapse. notice 70 degrees in spotsylvania right now. it wasn't that cool a couple of hour ago because the line of the thunderstorms formed over fredericksburg and down south into spotsylvania, the town of spotsylvania in county of spotsylvania. this is the result. cloudy and 70 degrees. we had showers in charles county but most of the action will stay south and it will be partly cloudy tonight. still heavy duty action down south. just in the past 15 minutes. just within the cluster you see on the screen. 159 lightning strikes. cloud to cloud, cloud to ground. impressive storms but none severe. through the evening we will stay kind of cloudy at times and have patchy fog and lows of 65 to 70 degrees. future cast show us

65 to 70's with areas of low clouds and fog. we should see a little sunshine in the day but as we head to the afternoon more showers could pop west of the metro area. we will be in the lower 80's. then that will continue through the evening. friday another very warm and muggy start to the day. as we head through the afternoon, increased chances of thunderstorms. the highs again are 83. on saturday. heat and the humidity built a bit. warm front comes through and the chances of showers and storms, 86. hot and humid for father's day. another hot and humid day on monday with widespread storms as a cold front approaches. beyond that we head to wednesday the official beginning of summer. we will see temperatures at the summer levels in the upper 80's to near 90 degrees. stay with us. continuing coverage from alexandria on "abc7 news at 6:00" right after this.

jonathan: incredible video. gunshots ringing out as kengmen, staff and a couple of kids ducking for cover on the baseball field. we have the whole video on website at wjla.com. minutes from now the del ray community is going to do, maybe try to turn the pidgeons and have a i have -- turn to have a vigil to bring the community together.

that. rich? richard: this is a really nice event. we have been talking about unity all day today. these are military veterans behind me that will take part in a run, a 5k run. two groups here. team red, white and blue. another group called got your six, or in other words got your back for us civilians out here. and they are going to go on the potomac yards trail. they are doing this to raise awareness and stress unity between the military population and civilians out here. they are also hoping that some members of congress perhaps come out here. they hope the brad wunstrap will visit here as well. he is a gentleman from ohio, surgeon in iraq. there is a lot of emotions here that you can imagine with the police force wounded like that. member

the folks trying to unify here in a patriotic way. hopefully lend some kind of healing at this point. reporting live in alexandria, richard reeve, abc7 news. jonathan: all right, rich. thank you. it's been some time since the shooting. hours. the f.b.i. has the evidence team out shoulder to shoulder and they are watch everything square inch of the field to retrace and catchture any evidence for ongoing investigation. tough day to digest. a lot happened today. there will be more to talk about later in the news. that is the latest from alexandria. i'm jonathan elias. back to you. michelle: thank you very much. of course, we are looking at the weather. muggy. temperatures starting to fade away. doug: yeah. showers and the storms stayed south and cooler the next few days. molly is in for steve rudin tonight and she will give you an update for everything you need to know about the weekend forecast. michelle: thank you. "world news tonig

creating jobs foreaner, reliour veterans... helping those in need save money on their energy bills. it takes 16,000 dominion energy employees doing the job. and now, dominion energy is investing $15 billion to build and upgrade our electric and natural gas infrastructure... creating jobs now and for the future. across virginia, we're building an economy that works for everyone and dominion energy is helping power the companies that power our economy.

tonight from washington, the horrifying moment. new video of the gunfire on the ball field. members of congress the intended targets. the moment when the gun shots began. gunman opening fire on lawmakers and staff congressman steve scalise is in critical condition. two wounded capitol hill police officers taking down the gunman. president trump addressing the nation. tonight, what we have learned about the gunman. the 66-year-old building inspector, a husband and bernie sanders supporter. his rage on social media about the president also breaking tonight the deadly shooting rampage at u.p.s. an employee