Republicans hold first Congressional Baseball Game practice since 2017 shooting

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - Republican lawmakers return to the field for their first Congressional Baseball Game practice since the 2017 shooting that wounded House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and three others.

Many of the participants who were on the field during the shooting were in attendance for the start of Wednesday's practice. Scalise, who recently underwent a planned follow-up surgery, was not at the field.The shooting happened on June 14, 2017 at Eugene Simpson Stadium Park in Alexandria, Virginia, at about 7:10 a.m. and involved a lone gunman armed with a rifle who opened fire.

Scalise (R-La.) and three others, including Congressional aide Zachary Barth, former staffer and current Tyson Foods lobbyist Matt Mika and U.S. Capitol Police Special Agent Crystal Griner were wounded.

U.S. Capitol Police said officers who were part of Scalise's security detail returned fire, wounding the shooter who was identified by the FBI as 66-year-old James T. Hodgkinson of Belleville, Illinois.

Scalise suffered shattered bones and damaged internal organs in the shooting, which left him near death. He was hospitalized for more than a month.