One dead and four wounded in shooting at a Washington DC fitness centre

One person was killed and four others were wounded when a gunman opened fire inside and outside a fitness centre in downtown Washington on November 12, 2026, The Times of Israel reported, citing the city's interim police chief, Jeffery Carroll. Carroll told reporters that the suspect had retreated to his apartment unit close by, barricaded himself inside and was later found with a gunshot wound he had inflicted on himself.

According to the Israeli news site Ynet, the attacker entered an upscale gym, shot a person in the neck, ran outside and kept shooting before shutting himself in his home. Ynet said officers were negotiating with him when they heard a gunshot, after which they forced their way in and found he had shot himself. Ynet first described the dead person as one of the wounded, reporting in a separate alert that the victim had been pronounced dead.

Where the shooting happened

The Israeli outlet News.co.il reported that the shooting took place in Logan Circle, a neighbourhood in the centre of Washington, DC, roughly a kilometre and a half from the White House, the official residence and office of the president of the United States. Ynet described the area as a busy and popular district in the heart of the American capital.

Washington, DC, is the federal capital of the United States and is not part of any state. Its downtown core is densely populated, with residential buildings, offices and commercial premises such as gyms sitting close together, which is why a suspect could move quickly from the scene of a shooting to an apartment nearby.

The police response

While the suspect was holed up, several streets in the area were closed and residents were told to stay inside their homes, News.co.il reported. It said schools nearby were moved onto an emergency footing while security forces continued to manage the incident and search for the shooter.

Israel's Channel 12 news, known as N12, reported on its foreign desk channel that law enforcement officers at the scene were trying to reach the gunman by phone as he remained inside a residential complex. A later N12 update said Washington police believed the suspect had apparently shot himself.

Jeffery Carroll, quoted by The Times of Israel, holds the post of interim chief of police in the city. The Times of Israel item was accompanied by an Associated Press photograph showing local and federal law enforcement and emergency medical teams responding to reports of an active shooter.

Conflicting casualty figures

Early reports did not agree on how many people were hurt. The figure given by the interim police chief, as reported by The Times of Israel, was one dead and four wounded, five victims in all. Ynet gave the same breakdown. News.co.il's first report spoke of five people wounded, without mentioning a death.

N12, citing the American broadcaster CBS, reported that six people had been hit and that, by initial estimates, one of them had died. N12 attributed that count to a New York police representative in Washington, and News.co.il later carried the same figure of six, attributing it to the New York police. Neither report explained why New York police would be giving figures for an incident in Washington, and it is not clear whether the count of six includes the suspect. This article uses the figure given by the interim police chief while noting that other reports differ.

How the reports describe the suspect

All four organisations describe a single gunman who acted at the gym and then outside it before retreating to a residence nearby. None of the reports names him or gives his age. The police chief's account, as relayed by The Times of Israel, is that he was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Ynet's headline said the gunman shot himself, and N12 reported that Washington police believed he had probably done so.

What the reports do not say

None of the reports identifies the suspect or the victims, or gives any motive for the attack. They do not state whether the suspect survived his wound, nor the condition of the four people who were wounded. The difference between the count of five victims and the count of six has not been explained, and there is no report yet of the lockdown on residents and nearby schools being lifted.