As details of the horrific shooting at a congressional Republican baseball practice Wednesday morning emerge, many questions remain. But one detail is abundantly clear: Members of the United States Capitol Police acted heroically.
In the aftermath of the shooting, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who was present at the time of gunfire, said on MSNBC, “Everybody probably would have died except for the fact that Capitol Hill police were there.”
“The only reason they were there was because we had a member of leadership on our team,” Paul explained, referring to House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, who was shot in the hip. “By him being there it saved everybody else’s life because if you don’t have a leadership person there … there would have been no security there.”
“Had they not been there,” Paul continued, “it would have been a massacre, because there’s no escaping a guy who has several hundred bullets. We had no weapons and no place to hide.”
Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., who was also present at the time of the shooting, echoed Paul’s remarks, saying on CNN that without police officers’ quick response, “it could very well have been a large-scale massacre.” If police were not present, Brooks explained, “all we would have had would have been baseball bats against a rifle.”
Per the account of Rep. Gary Palmer, R-Ala., two Capitol Police officers continued to engage the shooter after being hit.
As a member of House leadership, Scalise is protected by a Capitol Police security detail. The Louisiana Republican is in stable condition, according to a statement released by his office.
During a brief press conference, law enforcement confirmed five people had been transported from the scene of the shooting to the hospital. Without the heroic actions of Capitol Police officers, that number could have been much higher.
Emily Jashinsky is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
