According to Sen. Rand Paul, if shooting victim Rep. Steve Scalise wasn’t at the Republican baseball team practice this morning, the attack would have been a whole lot worse.

Appearing on MSNBC, Paul said he heard 50 or 60 shots as the gunman continued to reload and players scrambled for cover.

NBCNews: Sen. Rand Paul describes scene at GOP baseball practice where House Majority Whip Steve Scalise was shot https://t.co/phgxPZkG8E — Maximiliano Valdes (@maxvaldes) June 14, 2017

“One of the things that’s really fortunate is, why everybody probably would have died, except for the fact that the Capitol Hill police were there and the only reason they were there is because we had a member of leadership on our team,” Paul said.

Scalise is the House Majority Whip, the third highest ranking Republican.

“If Scalise wouldn’t have been on the team, unfortunately he was hit and I hope he does well, but also by him being there, he probably saved everybody else’s life because if you don’t have a leadership person there, there would have been no security there,” Paul said.

Paul said members of Congress and their staffers took shelter in the dugouts and behind small buildings, but that there was little those in the field could do.

Alexandria, Virginia police are reporting five people were “transported medically from the scene.”

Police Chief Michael Brown did not release their names or locations.