House Majority Whip Steve Scalise was shot and as many as four others injured during an early morning attack at practice for the GOP baseball team. The alleged shooter - identified as 66-year-old James T. Hodgkinson of Belleville, Illinois - exchanged gunfire with police and later died at the hospital.

Gunfire erupted just after 7 a.m. as team members were practicing for the annual Congressional baseball game at a YMCA field in Arlington, Virginia. Scalise, 51-year-old Republican from Louisiana, was hit in the hip. He was taken to MedStar Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C., where he underwent surgery.

At around 2:41 ET, the hospital tweeted that Scalise's injury was "critical" and that he was in critical condition.

Rep. Scalise was critically injured and remains in critical condition. The other patient is in good condition. — MedStar Washington (@MedStarWHC) June 14, 2017

Scalise has since undergone a second surgery and will likely need a third. Rep. Erik Paulsen, R-Minn, told KSTP-TV. Paulsen, who was also at the field but was uninjured in the shooting, said Scalise is still unconscious.

Zach Barth, a staffer for Republican Congressman Roger Williams, and Matt Mika, director of government relations for Tyson Foods, are also among the wounded. Barth has been treated and released from the hospital; Mika is listed in critical condition.

According to House Speaker Paul Ryan, the two Capitol Police injured in the exchange were David Bailey and Crystal Griner. Ryan said he spoke to both this morning as one was being treated and the other being taken into surgery.

"I expressed our profound gratitude to them," adding that more lives would have been lost without their presence," Ryan said.

In January, Rep. Steve Scalise joined members of the Alabama and South Carolina Congressional delegations to watch the National Championship football game between Alabama and Clemson (Front, L-R) Rep. Mark Sanford (SC), Rep. Bradley Byrne (AL), Rep. Robert Aderholt (AL), Rep. Gary Palmer (AL); (Back, L-R) House Whip Steve Scalise and Rep. Joe Wilson (SC). Palmer was also at the ballfield at the time of Wednesday's shooting but was not injured. (Contributed photo)

Alabama Reps. Mo Brooks and Gary Palmer were present at the game. Brooks was uninjured but said Palmer received medical attention at the scene but his office confirmed to AL.com he was not injured in the shooting.

President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence said they are monitoring developments closely.

"We are deeply saddened by this tragedy," the president said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the members of Congress, their staffs, Capitol Police, first responders, and all others affected."

The FBI is handling the investigation into the shooting.

The Republican baseball team holds practice every morning at 6:30 a.m. ET at Eugene Simpson Stadium Park in Alexandria, Virginia, according to Williams. Williams, who has coached the team since he joined Congress in 2013, said children were also present at the practice.

"It could have been so much worse," Williams said. "The fear factor was horrific. There was blood all over."

Sen. Bernie Sanders confirmed Hodgkinson was among the volunteers who worked last year on his Democratic presidential campaign.

"I am sickened by this despicable act," Sanders said from the Senate floor. "Let me be as clear as I can be. Violence of any kind of unacceptable in our society and I condemn this action in the strongest possible terms. Real change can only come about through nonviolent action and anything else runs against our most deeply held American values."

The baseball game will go on as planned tomorrow night. The showdown between Republicans and Democrats has been played since 1909 with proceeds going to charity.

In an interview just after the shooting, an obviously shaken Brooks described to scene to CNN:

"There were a number of Congressmen and Congressional staffers who help us lying on the ground. One of them was wounded in the leg. Took off my belt and myself and another Congressman, I don't remember who, applied a tourniquet to try to slow down the bleeding.

"In the meantime, I'm towards the right field side of the dugout, and there's gunfire within about 5 or 6, 7 feet of my head. And I look up, and there's a guy with a gun blasting away. Fortunately, it was one of the good guys, one of our security detail who is shooting back. Of course it's pistol vs. rifle, our pistols vs. the shooter's rifle along the third base line just outside the chain link fence. And he was warning us to stay down," an obviously shaken Brooks said.

The Alabama Congressman said as many as 100 shots were fired.

"Eventually it seems that the shooter shot both of our security detail people. There were some congressmen on phones screaming for reinforcements. It seems like a long time and we weren't even hearing sirens from local police officers, which tells me they probably did not yet know what was going on."

Brooks said the shooter began circling around third base to home plate outside the fence line. It was there the suspect was shot by security detail, who themselves were wounded. Scalise, is believed to have been shot in the hip, had drug himself into the outfield, leaving behind a trail of blood.

"(The wounded security detail) came out to make sure Steve Scalise was OK because that was his job. We tried to shoo him off but he was going to do his duty," Brooks said. "There was a lot of other blood but that was from people scrambling to try to get to a safe place.

"We started giving (Scalise) some liquids," Brooks told CNN. "Putting pressure on the wound in his hip. And Brad Wenstrup, the congressman from Ohio, Cincinnati, fortunately he's a physician, he started doing what you need to do to try to minimize the blood loss."

Brooks said he and another Congressman used a cloth to help stop Scalise's bleeding and Brooks took off his belt to use as a tourniquet for one of the wounded.

Al.com's Mike Cason contributed to this report.