One dead and four injured in gym shooting a mile from White House

A gunman in the United States has killed one person and injured four others before turning the weapon on himself a short distance from the White House.A large cordon was in place in the upmarket Logan Circle neighbourhood of Washington DC on Thursday morning with a heavy police presence, including Swat teams.The suspect killed himself while barricaded inside a flat as police officers closed in.Jeffery Carroll, interim chief of the Metropolitan Police Department in the US capital, said one victim died in the initial shooting inside a gym.Metropolitan Police Department interim chief Jeffery Carroll (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)APHe said the suspect apparently had a dispute with the homeowners’ association for the building, a mile north of the White House.A shelter-in-place alert was lifted shortly after 11.30am local time (4.30pm UK) on Thursday.The shootings had started at about 8am (1pm UK).Witness James Spellman, who had been inside the gym with around 50 other people, said: ‘Within seconds there was a man who fell to the ground and a pool of blood came out.‘One gym member rushed to help him. He was instantly dead. He had been shot in the neck.’As he fled with others, Mr Spellman heard about eight shots being fired.Another witness, Ryan Dubicki, said he had been in his nearby flat when he ‘heard about five bangs’.He thought at first they were the sound of building work but a short time later ‘there were cops everywhere’.