Following the shooting of Republican Congressman Steve Scalise and four others in Virginia, police have uncovered more information on the shooter, James T Hodgkinson.
A resident of Belleville, Illinois, Hodgkinson had apparently spent every morning of the last couple of months at the YMCA in Alexandria, Virginia where the Republican baseball team had been practicing daily for two months before the incident, according to Washington Post.
Hodgkinson had been known by his friends to be a staunch Senator Bernie Sanders supporter, and very anti-Trump. He had volunteered for the Sanders presidential campaign in 2016. His Facebook cover photo features Sanders and he was part of many progressive groups as well as anti-Trump pages.
In a recent Facebook post, he wrote: “Trump is a Traitor. Trump Has Destroyed Our Democracy. It’s Time to Destroy Trump & Co.”
He also posted multiple political rants, including calls to tax the “top 1%,” and cartoons critical of Republicans and President Trump.
Although he was politically very angry, his acquaintances are still shocked by his actions.
“Every issue that we were working on, he was not in support of,” Representative Mike Bost of Illinois, the Republican lawmaker who represented Hodgkins’ district, said, adding that while he was always angry about the GOP agenda, he never crossed the line.
Rep Bost mentioned that while Hodgkinson had been left-leaning in his communications through more than a dozen emails and phone calls, the conversations had always been delivered “never with any threats, only anger.”
Charles Orear, 50, a restaurant manager from St Louis, where Hodgkinson lived and worked as a home inspector, and who became friendly with him while campaigning in Iowa for Sanders in 2006, was surprised to hear about the shooting of Representative Scalise.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Orear said when told by phone about it.
Orear mentioned that while Hodgkinson had been a passionate progressive, there was no sign of violence or malice towards anyone, reports the Washington Post.
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Hodgkinson had previously had multiple run-ins with the law. On March 24, responding officers of the St Clair County Sheriff’s Department encountered him shooting 50 rounds in a pine forest near Belleville.
In April 2006, he was also arrested for using bodily force in a family argument, and subsequently hitting a man on the head with the wooden stock of his gun and firing a round as the victim fled.
Although Hodgkinson had been going to the YMCA in Alexandria every day at 7am, no one had seen him work out, but had not found him suspicious either.
However, he was frequently seen looking at his laptop, or outside through the window. It is now evident that he had been planning the attack for months.
Condemning the attack, Senator Sanders on Wednesday told the Senate: “I am sickened by this despicable act.”
“Let me be as clear as I can be. Violence of any kind is unacceptable in our society, and I condemn this action in the strongest possible terms,” he said.
Thursday, April 25, 2024
