Congresswoman Gifford Shot in the head, 19 others injured

[Dr. Jack Daniels]

Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is in an intensive care unit following surgery for a gunshot wound in the head at close range, the University of Arizona Medical Center announced Saturday afternoon.

Dr. Peter Rhee, a surgeon and chief of the trauma, critical care and emergency surgery, said he is "very optimistic" about the congresswoman's recovery.

However, Federal District Judge John M. Roll was shot and killed during the town-hall style event outside a Safeway grocery store in Tucson.

At least 19 people were shot at Giffords' "Congress on Your Corner" event, including three members of the Democratic congresswoman's staff in Arizona. Five have died, including one of Giffords' aides and a 9-year-old girl. Several others are in critical condition at the university hospital.

State Sen. Linda Lopez, a close friend of Giffords', told Fox News that the three-term congresswoman was shot in the temple and the bullet exited through her forehead. Lopez said Giffords was responding to commands.

Fox News confirmed that a 22-year-old white male named Jared Loughner was taken into custody as the alleged shooter. Police reportedly had also arrested a second suspect, however
law enforcement official told Fox News they believe Loughner acted alone after a "preliminary search" for a second suspect turned up no one.

Authorities said they believed Loughner had sent out a video saying that he expected Saturday to be his last day and had written on his MySpace page several "final thoughts" that included rants on illiteracy and the failure of U.S. currency to be backed by gold.

According to the law enforcement official, the suspect began shouting something before shooting wildly with an automatic weapon. Shots then rang out from the crowd --  a security agent or someone else fired at the suspect who survived.

Giffords, 40, has held multiple "Congress on Your Corner" events over the past four years, an aide told Fox News, adding that she had held three previous events at this venue before.

In November, Giffords was re-elected to her third term as representative of Arizona's 8th Congressional District, winning a tight race against a Tea Party-backed candidate. She was one of 19 Democrats who voted against House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi for speaker this week.

Giffords, a gun rights advocate, was first elected to Congress 2006 when she rode a wave of Democratic victories. However, she separated herself from most in her caucus when she criticized President Obama last summer for not sending more National Guard to the U.S.-Mexico border.

Giffords, who had been threatened previously, was a member of the Arizona House and Senate before coming to Washington. She is married to astronaut Mark Kelly. Sen. Bill  Nelson, R-Fla., said Kelly is training to be the next commander of the space shuttle mission slated for April and her brother-in-law is currently serving aboard the International Space Station.

Bipartisan expressions of support poured out for Giffords in the hours after the shooting with Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., issuing a statement saying her "tears are flowing" for Giffords and Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., saying he was "sickened by the horrific attack."

Obama issued a statement, calling it "an unspeakable tragedy." He ordered FBI Director Robert Mueller to Arizona to lead the investigation.

"I've spoken to Arizona Governor Jan Brewer and have offered her the full resources of the government," Obama said in live remarks to the nation. "It is a tragedy for Arizona and a tragedy for our entire country. What Americans do at a time of tragedy is to come together and support each other. ...We are going to get to the bottom of this and we are going to get through this."

Brewer said law enforcement and government at all levels have a "shared determination to ensure justice is fully served."

"I am just heartbroken," Brewer said. "Gabby is ore than just a colleague, she is a friend. She has always been a noble public servant ... It's an unbelievable tragedy that the people of Arizona experienced today, one of which of course in our worst nightmares we never would have imagined."

She added that the shooting is not something that shows favor for the state, but that the incident doesn't represent the vast majority of sentiment among Arizonans. As is the case elsewhere, "We have disturbed people in our community that do terrible, violent things."

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Capitol Police said the agency "remains at a high level of readiness, consistent with our operating condition on U.S. Capitol Grounds. We continue to maintain a robust presence."


http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/01/08/arizona-congresswoman-reportedly-shot-public-event/




This is just appalling. This is not the way America works. This tragedy is outrageous and has no place in this county.

Please, join and pray for her recovery and for the other victims in this tragic day.

[rds.06]

shot in the temple and the bullet exited through her forehead

How can she survive that?

[Dr. Jack Daniels]

shot in the temple and the bullet exited through her forehead

How can she survive that?

I have no idea. It's a miracle if I ever saw one.


*Update*

5 others have been declared dead, including a federal judge and a 9 year old boy


Fucking bastard.

[Max_Power]

I really wish he gets crucified in front of a live audience

[better2112]

I saw this on the news last night. What a fucken dick!!! Killed her, some 30 year old guy, a 9 year old girl and 3 people aged 76, 76 and 79.

Did he kill himself as well? hope not so they can torture him with pulling his balls off with a damn vise grip or something. 

[Adriana Galore]

This is just appalling. This is not the way America works. This tragedy is outrageous and has no place in this county.

Please, join and pray for her recovery and for the other victims in this tragic day.

Sad enough it is. Who shot John F. Kennedy? Who shot Martin Luther King? Still "nsolved" cases!

Sarah Palin and her disgusting hit list lets hope this is a bit of an eyeopener for those fools who fell for her cleavage!

[Adriana Galore]

Last night we viewed his YouTube channel and MySpace account. They're down now. On MySpace he said goodbye to his friends and asked for forgiveness. His YT channel was weird, obviously someone who is mental unstable. His own uploads were wary "statements" against the government and American society w/o music. He had one favorite uploaded by a guy whose channel is filled with weird dirty terrorism videos. It's not available anymore either. That video showed a weirdo burning the American flag [/i] and the soundtrack was Drowning Pool's  "Bodies (Let The Bodies Hit The Floor.

Edited: that idiot who has deleted all his other sick videos expcept -until now- for this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3L1lsLU-kUw (with Drowning Pool)
MySpace is still down but we found YT again or it's on again because I bookmarket it and it was gone?

http://www.youtube.com/user/Classitup10

He shoot very stable for an unstable person........

[ronws]

I watched part of the coverage yesterday. Police returned fire but the suspect was not injured. If I were the police chief, I would order all my police officers back to the range for practice. One lone guy walks up and hits every target he chooses. 5 or 6 police officers, supposedly trained and firing at one guy who is not even moving fast can't hit him once. I mean, great, he's alive to be questioned and we may get some answers. But still, one expects officers to have better accuracy than that.

There were reports of a person in the crowd who fired back at the suspect but evidently he didn't injure him, either. So, the suspect was the only one in Tucson that day that could hit a target, albeit at point blank range.

In Arizona, it is legal to carry a side-arm in plain view for any citizen not convicted of a felony. And I hope no one makes this a 2nd Amendment issue. Senator Giffords, herself, is a supporter of the 2nd Amendment, even though she is a democrat. She is a moderate democrat and actually gets things moving that would otherwise get stalemated in partisan negotiations. She's one of the congress people we need to keep around. I also heard that she was responding to directives from the doctors.

We have the right to say our piece and disagree but we do not have the right to senseless violence. And this could have easily happened with a knife or bomb. However, no one is assuming that she was the target until more investigations continue.

[Dr. Jack Daniels]

Sad enough it is. Who shot John F. Kennedy? Who shot Martin Luther King? Still "nsolved" cases!

Sarah Palin and her disgusting hit list lets hope this is a bit of an eyeopener for those fools who fell for her cleavage!

Okay, let's leave Palin out of this. She clearly never wanted these people shot, and anyone who thinks so is an idiot. This was one lone nut who had mental issues. Let's leave the blame game at home okay?


Update: She is now in a medically induced coma right now, but before she was communicating with her doctors, and she could recognize her husband. She is expected to recover, thank the Lord

[Andy Rose]

I just read it in the newspaper. How horrible

even though laughner was the one who commited the crime, the whole Tea Party should be sent to the nuthouse.

Trixi, you arent behind this, are you? 

[Andy Rose]

this and this



is certainly quite over the top. the last one is the picture that Kelly used in his campaing against Giffords. If this is not encouraging violence, then what is it?

[Trixi]

I just read it in the newspaper. How horrible

even though laughner was the one who commited the crime, the whole Tea Party should be sent to the nuthouse.

Trixi, you arent behind this, are you? 

Andy, I see you're worried, but people who have tea parties have nothing to do with the political movement called Tea Party. (I can't promise you though that some of the Tea Party members and supporters don't have tea parties at their homes.)


Anyway, I would've shot the guy who did this. My eyes wouldn't even blink. Also, it's a good thing I have good aim, something policemen in the US seem to lack. People like Loughner make me sick. Only idiots believe that shooting at people solves problems.

[SoulMonster]

I would've shot the guy who did this. My eyes wouldn't even blink. [...] Only idiots believe that shooting at people solves problems.

How ironic.

[Trixi]

How ironic.

Well, Stalin did say no man, no problem. In that case, it's true.

[Dr. Jack Daniels]

I just read it in the newspaper. How horrible

even though laughner was the one who commited the crime, the whole Tea Party should be sent to the nuthouse.

Trixi, you arent behind this, are you? 

Oh yes, because we all encouraged this nut job to kill innocent people. we all encourage murder of 9 year olds and federal judges. Yes, I'm clearly guilty for this man's crimes.


Have you seen anyone from the tea party or any politician from the tea party condoning this? no? that's because we're not all nutjobs. just like PETA isn't all full of nutjobs, or greenpeace, or CODE: PINK. No.


We all pray for her recovery.  But no, we're all nuts. I'm clearly a nut case who wants to slaughter innocent people.