The prosecutor for the city of Alexandria released a 39-page report Friday on an investigation into the June 14 congressional baseball shooting, calling the attack by Bernie Sanders supporter James Hodgkinson an “act of terrorism” that was fueled by rage against Republicans.

Hodgkinson, wrote the commonwealth’s attorney for Alexandria, Bryan L. Sanders, “held strong political opinions and was very unhappy about the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.” Having recently stopped working, he was spending a great deal of time on social media, the report says, and “using it to express his political views, such as his strong support for Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign.”

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The investigation was done jointly with the FBI, the City of Alexandria Police Department, and the United States Capitol Police to determine whether or not the law enforcement officers were justifiable in their use of deadly force. Hodgkinson was shot and killed by Capitol Police and Alexandria police officers after firing 70 rounds and seriously injuring Republican Majority Whip Steve Scalise, a congressman representing Louisiana’s 1st Congressional District.

The report found that all four officers involved were justified in their use of deadly force.

But what was most interesting was the report’s characterization of the shooting as an act of terrorism targeting Republicans.

In June, the FBI had said the attack was not terrorism.

“At this time, the FBI has assessed the shooter James Hodgkinson acted alone. We also assess that there was no connection to terrorism,” Andrew Veil, assistant director in charge of the FBI field office, told reporters on June 21. “It was an assault on a member of Congress, assault on a federal officer.”

The firearms that Hodgkinson used in the shooting, a semi-automatic rifle and a 9 mm handgun, were both purchased legally, as Hodgkinson had never been convicted of a crime.

“The evidence in this case establishes beyond a reasonable doubt that the suspect, fueled by rage against Republican legislators, decided to commit an act of terrorism as that term is defined by the Code of Virginia. See Va. Code §18.46.4.4,” Sanders wrote in the summary of his findings.

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The report takes readers through Hodgkinson’s movements in the months and days preceding the shooting.

Hodgkinson was a 66-year-old man from Illinois who suffered from diabetes, along with a bad temper. He was married and had worked as a home inspector for a number of years. But in 2016, he’d stopped working and was having financial problems.

In March he told his family that he was going to Washington, D.C., to “protest” and “talk about taxes” and ended up in Alexandria, living out of his van and showering at the YMCA.

After the shooting, a citizen reported that on June 10, four days before the shooting, he’d seen Hodgkinson get out of his van and walk around the field.

“The citizen found the suspect’s behavior odd, and after hearing of the shooting, believed the suspect had been ‘casing’ the field,” the report says. “Furthermore, at least one member of the Republican baseball team remembered seeing the suspect sitting in the Simpson Field stands and watching the team practice on the morning before the incident, June 13.”

A video of the baseball field found on Hodgkinson’s phone indicated to investigators that he had been planning the crime since April.

Republican members of Congress and some Republican staffers had gathered at Simpson Field in Alexandria on June 14 for a 6 a.m. baseball practice, to prepare for the annual Congressional Baseball Game, an event that raises money for charity, with a Republican team playing a Democrat team.

Hodgkinson showered at the YMCA that morning about 5:30 a.m. and visited a storage unit twice, presumably to retrieve guns. He arrived at the baseball field between 6:35 and 7 a.m., according to the report, and at about 7:02, he approached two members of the baseball team who were in the parking lot, leaving the practice early, and asked them whom the practice was for — the Democrat or Republican team.

“They responded that it was for the Republican team,” the report says. “The suspect said, ‘OK, thanks,’ and walked away.”

Hodgkinson then got the guns out of his van and approached the field on the third-base side while members of Congress and their staffers were engaged in batting practice. Rep. Scalise was playing in the field, near second base.

Hodgkinson calmly approached the fence, and began firing at the Republican team members. He was standing near a gate, which, the report notes, happened to be padlocked that day.

“This simple fact likely saved lives by preventing the suspect from walking onto the baseball field as he fired,” the report says.

The Capitol Police officers, who were there to guard Scalise, the number-three Republican in the House of Representatives, were in their vehicle in the parking lot when the shooting began.

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Scalise was struck in the hip, and collapsed near second base. A former Republican staffer-turned-lobbyist was struck in the chest and also went down.

A Republican staffer was also struck in the leg.

The shooter had fired “indiscriminately” in an ambush attack on a peaceful group of people, the report says, “in an effort to kill and maim as many people as possible.”

“The agents and police officers who engaged the suspect were confronted with a suspect who determinedly and repeatedly engaged in deadly force against a group of innocent, unarmed baseball players,” the report says. “When engaged by the agents and the responding Alexandria Police officers, the suspect trained his fire on them. The suspect’s intent, which can be clearly inferred from his conduct, was to shoot the agents and officers so that he could return to killing and maiming the unarmed people on the baseball field.”

(photo credit, homepage image: James Hodgkins’s Google+ Profile / U.S. Congress; photo credit, article image: James Hodgkins’s Facebook / Youtube)