FBI changes designation of 2017 congressional baseball shooting to domestic extremism

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Hannah K. Sparling, Cincinnati Enquirer
·2 min read
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U.S. Rep. Brad Wenstrup gives a speech during a Veterans Day ceremony at the TQL headquarters in Union Township, Ohio, on Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2020.
U.S. Rep. Brad Wenstrup gives a speech during a Veterans Day ceremony at the TQL headquarters in Union Township, Ohio, on Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2020.

CINCINNATI — In 2017, a gunman opened fire while a group of Republican lawmakers was practicing for a charity baseball game.

The FBI initially designated the shooting as “a case of the attacker seeking suicide by cop” – a label Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, said “defies logic.”

The FBI changed its classification of a shooting at a congressional baseball practice after Wenstrup and others complained. Wenstrup was on the field that day.

On this May 14, FBI Director Christopher Wray called Wenstrup to inform him the FBI would be changing the designation to “domestic violent extremism,” according to an email from the representative’s office.

The new designation is included in an official FBI report on domestic terrorism.

“Our intelligence and law enforcement apparatuses require accuracy, precision, and justice,” Wenstrup said in the email. “I’m encouraged that the FBI has updated its classification of that nearly catastrophic event to reflect the actual motives of the assailant, and I commend Director Wray for his oversight of that correction. I will continue to work with the Bureau toward investigating what led to the original 'suicide by cop' determination.”

The baseball practice was almost over on June 14, 2017, when the shooter, James Hodgkinson, 66, of Belleville, Illinois, opened fire. Hodgkinson was killed in the ensuing shootout with Capitol Police. Five others, including Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, were injured.

Wenstrup, a podiatrist who served as a surgeon in the U.S. Army, used scissors to cut through Scalise’s pant leg to get to his wound to assess the damage and try to stop the bleeding.

“I felt like I was back in Iraq,” Wenstrup said at the time.

During an April hearing, Wenstrup questioned Wray about how the FBI arrived at the initial designation of suicide by cop. Wenstrup detailed the shooter’s actions, saying he had been living in his van near the baseball field and that social media posts showed he hated Republicans and hated then-President Donald Trump.

The shooter had a list in his pocket with the names of Republican Congressmen as well as their physical descriptions.

“Director, you want suicide by cop, you just pull a gun on a cop,” Wenstrup said at the time. “It doesn’t take 136 rounds. It takes one bullet.”

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: FBI changes 2017 GOP baseball shooting to domestic extremism incident

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