Fox News chief political analyst Brit Hume said Wednesday night that the attack on two National Guardsmen in Washington, D.C., looked like one of the most vicious attempted killings he has ever seen.
Police rushed to 17th and I Street NW on Wednesday afternoon after a gunman shot two National Guardsmen, triggering a brief lockdown of the surrounding area. During a panel discussion on “Special Report with Bret Baier,” Hume said early witness accounts suggested the shooter yelled a phrase commonly used in past extremist attacks, arguing that such a detail would immediately shape how the public and officials interpret the motive behind the assault.
“There’s some reports that he shouted Allahu Akbar, a phrase that we’ve become painfully familiar with from Muslim extremists through the age of terrorism. That would probably short-circuit what would have otherwise been rather a poisonous debate about motive here,” Hume told Bret Baier.
Hume said the shooting is potentially more than just another high-profile crime.
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“If it turns out to be an act of terror, that puts it in a different category for sure. But this was about as cold-blooded an attempted murder as we could imagine. No justification for it in any way,” Hume said.
FBI Director Kash Patel said investigators will treat the shooting of two National Guard soldiers as an attack on a federal law enforcement officer. The troops came to Washington, D.C., in August as part of the federal push to confront rising crime and disorder, raising the current deployment to roughly 2,200 personnel.
Patel confirmed during a press conference that both National Guardsmen shot near the White House remain alive and in critical condition. (RELATED: Al Sharpton Wastes No Time Blaming Trump For National Guard Shooting)
“At approximately 2:15 local time in Washington, D.C., where two of our brave members of National Guard and the Department of War were brazenly attacked in a horrendous act of violence,” Patel said. “They were shot. They’re in critical condition.”
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