New details are emerging about how things unfolded when Rep. Steve Scalise was transported to the hospital earlier this week. Doctors say he was at “immediate risk of death” when he made it to the hospital shortly after getting shot while practicing for a charity softball game, according to doctors.
CBS News spoke to hospital staff:
“When he arrived, he was in critical condition with an imminent risk of death,” Dr. Jack Sava, director of trauma at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, said in a briefing on the congressman’s condition. “He will certainly be in the hospital for a considerable period of time, presumably weeks.”
However, Sava added that Scalise’s condition had stabilized over the past two days, saying “an excellent recovery is a good possibility.”
A single bullet traveled across Scalise’s pelvis when he was shot Wednesday, fracturing bones, injuring internal organs and causing severe bleeding, Sava said. He was transported in shock to the medical center.
The family of Steve Scalise released a touching statement, saying they were “forever grateful for the heroism of Special Agents Crystal Griner and David Bailey, who saved the lives of everyone at the baseball field that morning.”
Senator Jeff Flake, who was also at the field during the shooting, grabbed Scalise’s cell phone after the shooting and called his wife to make sure she didn’t discover the news via television.
Continued prayers for Rep. Scalise and everyone else still recovering from this harrowing ordeal.
As Faithwire reported on Wednesday:
Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) was shot at a baseball field in Alexandria, Virginia, on Wednesday morning.
Scalise, who was hit in the hip, is expected to recover, though multiple aides were reportedly shot as were two Capitol Hill police officers; one individual was reportedly shot in the chest. Five people were transported from the scene, Fox News reported.
Rep. Roger Williams (R-Tex.) was also reportedly taken away on a stretcher, though it is being reported by some outlets that he injured himself dodging gunfire and was not shot.
Scalise, who is House majority whip, had a security detail with him, and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul said in an interview after the attack that it would have been a massacre if the congressman didn’t have that protection.
A text message purportedly sent to a reporter by Rep. Mo Brooks (R-S.C.) said that more than 50 shots were fired at the scene in what sources have told CNN appears to be a “deliberate attack.”
Brooks also told media that the shooter appeared to be a white male, though he didn’t get a good look at him; he added that the assailant was silent as he sat behind the third base dugout, CNN reported.
“The gun was a semiautomatic,” Brooks said. “It continued to fire at different people. You can imagine, all the people on the field scatter.”
Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) said that he left the baseball practice just before the shooting and that, as he walked toward his car, a man asked if it was Democrats or Republicans practicing. Just minutes later, the rampage began, though it is unclear if the person who asked that purported question had any relation to the crime.
President Donald Trump reacted to news of the shooting on Twitter, saying that Scalise “will fully recover.”
Initial reports indicated that the shooter was dead, though updated accounts say he is in custody and isn’t a threat.
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