Interview with NC9 Washington Bureau reporter about shooting at congressional baseball practice

NewsChannel 9's exclusive Washington bureau reporter Mark Meredith talks with NewsChannel 9’s Faran Fronczak about Wednesday's shooting during a congressional baseball practice in Virginia.
 
Faran: Mark, you were at the scene of the shooting this morning. What did the witnesses there you spoke to tell you about what they heard and what they saw?
Mark: Faran, you can imagine for so many people that live in Alexandria, Virginia, there was just a lot of chaos, a lot of confusion because they heard these gunshots so early. And it wasn't just one or two. They were multiple. Back to back. And it's now because we've learned that the gunman was exchanging fire with capitol police officers. So these people who were out walking their dog, drinking their morning coffee. They didn't know what was happening. And then an hour and a half later once the news began to come out, did they realize these were members of congress practicing on their baseball field in this park. It's very residential, very quiet safe residential area. So Faran, you can imagine, a lot of these people, it's been a very tough day, along with the FBI to try to piece together what happened.

Faran: The shooter –  66-year-old James Hodgkinson – we know from his Facebook he was a Bernie Sanders supporter, and very anti-Trump and very anti-republican. What else do we know about him?

Mark: Believe it or not, the FBI is trying to learn a lot themselves. They put out a wanted poster. The suspect is dead, but they have put out a wanted poster because they need information on how long this guy has been in the dc area, whether or not he knew Congressman Scalise or anyone else that was going to be there. As you did talk about, he did appear to be a volunteer for the Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign. But we've already heard from Senator Sanders saying this is despicable, and he was condemning the action quickly.