Jeff Flake used Steve Scalise's phone to call Scalise's wife so she wouldn't see the news on TV first

One of the many heroes to emerge when a gunman opened fire on Republican lawmakers' baseball practice Wednesday was Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz). Flake recounted to reporters that Majority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) was playing second base when he was hit in the hip by a bullet; unable to run to cover, Scalise reportedly began to drag himself into the outfield to try to get away.

"We couldn't get to him until the shooting stopped," a visibly-shaken Flake recalled.

Flake added that he was the first out to Scalise when the gunfire stopped. "Brad [Wenstrup, an Ohio representative], who's a physician, [also] came out and we applied pressure on the wound … [Scalise] seemed coherent the whole time."

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Flake then took Scalise's phone and called Scalise's wife, so she wouldn't first hear the news of her husband being shot on TV when she woke up.

Read The Week's coverage of the shooting here.