Breaking: Arizona Congresswoman Giffords Shot
By Chuck Sudo in News on Jan 8, 2011 8:30PM
We're keeping tabs on reports from Arizona of a shooting in Tucson, AZ today. Among those shot was Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Giffords was meeting with constituents when a gunman approached and opened fire, hitting Giffords in the head along with several others.
Early reports indicated that Giffords died from the gunshot. However, Giffords's husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, told ABC News that she was alive, although her condition is not known at this time. Prior to meeting with her constituents at a Tucson grocery store, Giffords tweeted, "My 1st Congress on Your Corner starts now. Please stop by to let me know what is on your mind or tweet me later."
Witness Jason Pekau told CNN he heard "15 to 20 gunshots," while NPR reports that the shooter is described as a white man in late teens or early 20s, and was tackled by a bystander and taken into custody after the shooting.
Giffords described herself as a centrist "blue dog Democrat" who voted in favor of the Obama health care overhaul (review Giffords's voting record here). And, while the white noise generated by the internet is already placing some of the blame for Giffords's shooting on the rhetoric of Sarah Palin and other conservatives (reference this map of 20 Democratic congressmen who voted for the health care overhaul targeted by SarahPAC for removal from office) Palin took to Facebook to offer condolences to Gifford's family and the families of the other shooting victims.
[UPDATE 2:54 p.m.]: MSNBC is reporting that among those killed in the shooting is Federal Judge John M. Roll. Meanwhile, today's shooting isn't the first time Giffords has been harassed. Last spring, the glass front door to her Tucson office was smashed out.
[UPDATE #:35 P.M>]: Multiple news sources have identified the shooter as 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner. Loughner calls himself a "conscience dreamer' on his Youtube channel and lists among his favorite books
"Animal Farm, Brave New World, The Wizard Of OZ, Aesop Fables, The Odyssey, Alice Adventures Into Wonderland, Fahrenheit 451, Peter Pan, To Kill A Mockingbird, We The Living, Phantom Toll Booth, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Pulp,Through The Looking Glass, The Communist Manifesto, Siddhartha, The Old Man And The Sea, Gulliver's Travels, Mein Kampf, The Republic, and Meno."
[UPDATE 3:50 p.m.]: President Obama called the Giffords shooting an "unspeakable tragedy." Besides Judge Roll, five others are dead, including a 9-year-old girl.
[UPDATE 4;30 p.m.]: Vanity Fair has an update. Dr. Peter Rhee, speaking at a televised press conference, said that he is "very optimistic" about Gifford's condition. AZCentral.com also has a detailed liveblog of the shooting.