What to know about the Logan Circle shooting in Washington, DC

Police say a gunman is dead after he allegedly shot five people, killing one, in a busy thoroughfare in the centre of Washington, DC, on Thursday morning. Mass shootings are not uncommon in the United States, but this one drew a swift and massive response from local police as well as federal security forces. Law and order in the capital city has been at the centre of a national debate about the administration of US President Donald Trump.

About 8am local time (13:00 GMT), during a busy rush hour commute, a gunman entered a gym in Logan Circle, a trendy neighbourhood near foreign embassies and fashionable restaurants, about 1.6km (one mile) north of the White House. “Within seconds, there was a man who fell to the ground, and a pool of blood came out,” said James Spellman, who witnessed the attack and said there were about 50 people in the gym. “One gym member rushed to help him.

He was instantly dead. He had been shot in the neck.” Spellman said he and other gym members ran out of the gym and he heard more gunfire in the area of 15th Street.