WASHINGTON _ Rep. Rodney Davis was just yards from the gunman who opened fire at a congressional baseball practice in Virginia on Wednesday morning, an attack he blames on the "hatefulness" in American politics today.
"This could be the first political rhetorical terrorist act," Davis, R-Ill., told CNN as he stood in the Capitol, still wearing his baseball uniform and his elbow bloodied from when he dove from the gunfire.
"It's my breaking point; we have to stop this," Davis said.
Davis and dozens of GOP congressmen were at a park in Alexandria, Va., just outside Washington, practicing for a charity baseball game with Democrats scheduled for Thursday night.
Davis, a catcher on the GOP team, was at bat when a gunman near the dugout on the third base line opened fire, wounding Rep. Steve Scalise, the majority whip in the House, a congressional staffer and two law enforcement officers who were providing security at the field, officials said.
The gunman was wounded when police returned fire, and he later died. He has been identified as a 66-year-old man from Belleville, Ill., about 80 miles south of where Davis lives.
As the gunman started shooting, "we heard a loud bang like some big piece of metal dropping, then I heard someone yelling, run," Davis told CNN.
Davis said he dove into the other dugout along with other players. "By the time I got there from home plate, I was on top of a couple people _ didn't think that was the best place to be ... an open dugout, so I tried to get out of there.
"When there seemed to be a break in activity, I and others, we dispersed up into the street," taking cover behind cars, Davis said.
He said someone called out that the gunman was coming up the street. "A good Samaritan let us into his apartment so we could call 911," Davis said. "I also called my family."
The gunman was arrested after a security detail for Scalise returned fired. Davis credited the officers with preventing more carnage. "If they weren't there, this would have been a massacre."
In the CNN interview, Davis said he went back to his office after investigators released him from the crime scene, then decided to go to the Capitol and talk to reporters about his experience. "I'm angry. I want to talk to people. ... It's important to get this message out."
Acknowledging he didn't know what motivated the gunman, Davis spoke at length about "this hatefulness" in politics.
"I believe there is such a hatefulness in what we see in American politics and policy discussions right now ... on social media and the 24-hour news cycle. This has got to stop.
"We can disagree on how to govern _ that's what makes this country great," he said. "I think Republicans and Democrats need to use this day today to stand together and say, 'Stop, let's work together, let's get things done. We can have our differences, but let's not let it lead to such hate.'"
Davis said he has no doubt the congressmen were targeted: "I don't think it's a coincidence no bullets were fired outside of that baseball field."
