House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., admitted Friday he was still grappling with forgiving the man who shot him two years ago on a baseball field outside of Washington, D.C.
“I’ve never internally, formally forgiven the shooter from the baseball shooting and it’s something I’ve struggled with as a Catholic. I mean part of my faith is forgiveness and I’m working to get there,” Scalise told reporters on Capitol Hill.
In June 2017, Scalise was shot in the hip when a man welding a rifle opened fire on Republican lawmakers practicing in Alexandria, Va., ahead of the annual Congressional Baseball Game. Scalise, who still uses a crutch, underwent multiple surgeries and intensive rehabilitation therapy. The shooter, James T. Hodgkinson, a 66-year-old man from Belleville, Ill., died from the injuries he sustained during a shootout with police.
Scalise, who told the Washington Examiner last year he was more focused on his recovery than forgiveness, made the comments after last week visiting one of the three churches razed by an arsonist in his home state of Louisiana with Vice President Mike Pence. He spoke about his interactions after the “real moving gathering” with the Rev. Gerald Toussaint of Opelousas’ Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church.
“The minister of the church that we were holding the reception at talked about how he’s already forgiven the arsonist. And I talked to him about that afterwards because I still have to address forgiveness for the shooting two years ago. It was good to talk to him and get an understanding of how he got to that point,” Scalise said.
The three places of worship were last month gutted by fires during a 10-day period. Holden Matthews, 21, has been charged with arson and state hate crimes.
