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'Like I was back in Iraq,' Cincinnati congressman says after colleague shot

A person is treated by emergency workers  as members of the Republican congressional baseball team look on  following a shooting in Alexandria, Va  14 June 14, 2017. The Republican House majority whip Steve Scalise and at least four others have been shot shot at a congressional baseball game practice session, according to media reports

Rep. Brad Wenstrup's combat surgeon instincts kicked in after a fellow congressman was shot at a baseball practice Wednesday.

Wenstrup, of Columbia Tusculum, used some kind of scissors to cut through Rep. Steve Scalise's pant leg to get to the Louisiana congressman's wound, Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama told CNN. Wenstrup, a podiatrist, served as a U.S. Army surgeon.

"I felt like I was back in Iraq," Wenstrup told CBS News.

 

Scalise was among five wounded in the morning shooting, officials told news outlets. Scalise was shot in the hip. He underwent surgery and is in critical condition.  

The shooting suspect, James T. Hodgkinson of Belleville,Ill., died from injuries sustained Wednesday morning, President Donald Trump confirmed. 

For a time, "the field was basically a killing field," Sen. Rand Paul, of Kentucky, told CNN. Fifteen to 20 U.S. representatives and two senators were on the field, Paul said. "I saw Scalise go down on second base," but gunshots were still hitting the dirt in left field, Paul told CNN.

"I don’t think anyone would have survived without the Capitol Police,” said Paul, who said in a statement that he was shaken but unharmed. “Nobody else had a weapon. ... It would have been a massacre without them.”

"They never hesitated to put their lives on the line to save everyone," Paul said in his statement. 

Brad Wenstrup

After police had the shooter "down," Brooks said, members of Congress deferred to Wenstrup.

"I did what I did in Iraq," Wenstrup, a Republican, told ABC News. “You assess their wounds, and you cut down their clothes and look for the wound and make sure that you stop the bleeding.”

He made sure Scalise was conscious by asking him where he was and asking him to count. Scalise was in pain and "was losing a lot of blood," Wenstrup said.

Medics arrived, and they bandaged Scalise. Wenstrup said they gave him Gatorade and water to replenish his fluids.

"I'm glad I was there," Wenstrup told Fox News, "but it's a sad day in America."

Sen. Jeff Flake, of Arizona, told CNN it took at least 10 minutes until shooter was down. During that time, Scalise lay alone on the baseball field. "We couldn't get to him because of the shots," Flake said.

“I got Steve Scalise’s phone and called his wife,” Flake told CNN. He said he didn’t want her to hear Scalise had been shot via the news.

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“Dr. Wenstrup was the lead medic, if you will, on this mission,” Rep. Jack Bergman, a Michigan Republican and former three-star general in the Marine Corps, told Fox News. Bergman said he was among those trying to tend to Scalise under Wenstrup’s direction.

Officials were practicing for a charity baseball game between Republicans and Democrats, which will be held as scheduled Thursday. Money from the game goes to groups such as the Washington Literacy Center, the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Washington and the Washington Nationals Dream Foundation.

The game is still scheduled to go on.