The suspected shooter who opened fire at the Republican members of Congress during a baseball practice game in Virginia early on Wednesday (June 14) has been identified as James T. Hodgkinson. The 66-year-old gunman had shot Senior United States Congressman Steve Scalise and injured four others before he was shot by police. Hodgkinson was shifted to a hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.
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Hodgkinson was an unemployed home inspector from Belleville in southern Illinois. However, he was living in a van in Alexandria for the past two months.
In fact, the former mayor of Alexandria, Bill Euillev, told Washington Post that he had seen the suspect living out of a gym bag and had even offered to help him find a job. However, Euillev described Hodgkinson as a very friendly person who perhaps knew none in the town apart from the mayor.
Hodgkinson, who had been quite vocal about his opposition against US President Donald Trump on many anti-Republican groups on Facebook, including 'The Road to Hell Is Paved With Republicans', 'Terminate The Republican Party', and 'Donald Trump is not my President'.
According to the NDTV, in a Facebook post dated March 22, Hodgkinson had said, "Trump is a Traitor. Trump Has Destroyed Our Democracy. It's Time to Destroy Trump & Co." His Facebook account which has now been taken down bore a profile picture with a U.S. flag featuring the slogan, 'Democratic Socialism explained in 3 words: We the People'.
He had a criminal record, including a 2006 arrest on battery charges, that were later dismissed and multiple traffic violations. He also had a history of violence against his family members. He had allegedly physically assaulted his foster daughter and two of her friends. According to the Guardian, Hodgkinson threw his daughter around a room, pulled her hair and hit her. He also punched a female friend of his daughter in the face "with a closed fist" and struck the woman's boyfriend in the head with the stock of his shotgun, before firing a round as the man ran away.
In the late 90s, another foster daughter living with Hodgkinson and his wife, Suzanne, had committed suicide at the age of 17 by dousing herself with gasoline.
According to Facebook, Hodgkinson went to Belleville Township High School West and studied flight training at Southwestern Illinois College. He had a brother named Mike and a sister. Their mother, Deloris, was a lab technician who died at 81 in 2004 while father, James, died at 91 in 2011.
