WASHINGTON ― The man who shot at Republicans practicing for a baseball game last week toured locations in the nation’s capital, visited the office of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and had a list of six members of Congress on him, the FBI said Wednesday.
The shooter, James T. Hodgkinson, was a Sanders supporter who regularly shared his political views on social media and was critical of both Republicans and Hillary Clinton. He also reportedly had a violent history, and his foster daughter told a judge in 2006 that he was an abusive alcoholic.
The FBI did not characterize the list of names as a hit list. Agents said they aren’t sure whether the shooting was a spontaneous or a planned event, but that it currently seems to have been more spontaneous. Hodgkinson did not search out the baseball game or the practices.
“He was struggling in all kinds of different ways,” the FBI’s Timothy Slater said Wednesday. Slater said Hodgkinson was running out of money, having marital trouble and grappling with the effects of medication. He would not say whether Hodgkinson was abusing the unnamed medication or taking it as prescribed.
Hodgkinson did not make any specific threats against members of Congress on his social media accounts, according to the FBI.
“Hodgkinson made numerous posts on all of his social media accounts espousing anti-Republican views, although all of the posts reviewed thus far appear to be First Amendment-protected speech,” the bureau said in a press release. “At this point in the investigation, the FBI does not believe there is a nexus to terrorism.”
House Majority Whip Steve Scalise was severely injured in the shooting, although he’s reportedly now able to talk and text.
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