On Wednesday morning, shots were fired at a congressional baseball practice in Virginia park. Republican Rep. Steve Scalise was stuck by a bullet, while two other offices were hit as well before the gunman was taken into custody.
Trump on shooting
It was another day in Alexandria, VA where members of Congress got together for a traditional baseball practice. At this point a "loud boom" could be heard, according to Rep.
Mo Brook. "I look around, behind third base, behind the third base dugout, and I see a rifle," Brooks told CNN. Brooks went on to describe that Rep. Steve Scalise had been shot by 2nd base, explaining that he believed the the gun was a "semiautomatic." "It continues to fire at different people," Brooks continued to describe in detail, noting, "You can imagine all the people in the field scatter." Anywhere between 50 and 100 shots were fired, with Scalise, a congressional aide, and two members of law enforcement were injured, in addition to the gunman himself. Rep. Rand Paul also elaborated on what took place during a phone interview with MSNBC, crediting the police officers in attendance and saying it would have been a "massacre" if they were not at the baseball field.
Commenting on what took place was Donald Trump in a tweet on June 14.
Taking to his Twitter account on Wednesday morning, Donald Trump addressed the aforementioned shooting. "Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, a true friend and patriot, was badly injured but will fully recover," Trump tweeted out, before adding, "Our thoughts and prayers are with him." As expected, Trump's tweet was met with a partisan response, with conservatives coming to his defense, while liberals and independents reminded the president about his current stance on gun control.
Twitter reacts
In response to Donald Trump and his tweet about the shooting, social media users were quick to fire back. "Hope that now Trump and esp Republicans will get serious about implementing tougher Gun Laws," Uzair Hasan Rizvi tweeted out.
"Any thoughts and/or prayers on gun reform?" Jon Comulada tweeted out. "Prayers not proving to be effective counter-measure to gun violence. Time to try a different tactical measure like intelligent legislation," Doug Davis wrote on Twitter.
"Care to say anything about gun control?" another social media user asked. As the negative reaction continued to pour in, it because clear that the recent shooting of a Republican congressman would be used as a political and partisan reminder that the United States and its people are clearly divided.