James T. Hodgkinson, 66, of Belleville, Illinois, who allegedly attacked members of Congress on Wednesday morning at a baseball practice, had a history of violence even before his shooting rampage.
The Daily Beast cited a police report stating that Hodgkinson was arrested in 2006 for domestic battery and discharge of a firearm because he punched a man’s girlfriend “in the face with a closed fist.” Hodgkinson also aimed a shotgun at the man, firing one round.
The same police report asserted that Hodgkinson was also “observed throwing” an unidentified minor, whom police identified as his daughter, “around the bedroom” After she got loose, Hodgkinson followed and “started hitting her arms, pulling her hair, and started grabbing her off the bed.” When Hodgkinson’s girlfriend tried to flee in a vehicle, he “turned off the ignition …. James then pulled out a possible pocket knife and cut [her] seatbelt.”
On March 24, 2017, a neighbor of Hodgkinson called the St. Clair County Sheriff’s office, informing them that 50 shots had been fired nearby; Hodgkinson was shooting in the pine trees; an officer told him to stop, although Hodgkinson has a valid firearm license.
In March 2010, Hodgkinson wrote the Belleville News-Democrat, “I don’t ever again want to hear how great a president [Ronald Reagan] was. All he did was give tax breaks to the rich and put the rest of the country (or at least 13.1 percent) out of work. To think the Republican Party can call this man their idol is un-American. It’s all about the money.”
Another letter to the editor stated, “Also to fund the government deficit I hope the Obama administration raises the income tax rate for the rich to 70 percent or more.”
Other letters to the editor from Hodgkinson evidencing his leftism can be found here.
Hodgkinson called himself a Bernie Sanders supporter on social media; Sanders released a statement decrying Hodgkinson’s actions, adding, “I have just been informed that the alleged shooter at the Republican baseball practice is someone who apparently volunteered on my presidential campaign,”
