More than 36 hours since the mass shooting in Tucson, Arizon, killing six people and wounding 14, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, many facts and claims have surfaced: some of them have been proven wrong, notably the report on Saturday that Giffords had died, and some have held up affirmed. But beyond that, many questions remain unanswered.
Giffords, a Democratic Party house member from Arizona’s 8th congressional district, was holding an open meeting with her constituents just after 10 a.m. on Saturday in the Safeway supermarket parking lot in Casas Adobe, near Tucson. The Congresswoman held such meetings, called "Congress on Your Corner", regularly. As the meeting started with the Congresswoman, her aides, and several dozen of her constituents, a 22 year-old white male named Jared Lee Loughner arrived at the scene.
Using a 22-calibre, 9-mm Glock Model 19 with an extended clip, he first shot Gifford at point-blank range in the head, then fired than two dozen shots at the people present, hitting at least 19 others. As people scrambled to get out of the way, Loughner ran out of bullets and tried to change the magazine on his gun. A woman, already injured by gunfire, rushed Loughner. She failed to get the gun but managed to snatch the magazine. The shooter had a third magazine which he tried to load, but two men subdued him until law enforcement arrived.
By this point, the Congresswoman, a federal judge, a 9 year-old girl, and 17 others were dead or seriously injured. One of Gifford aides managed to hold her up and help her until paramedics arrived. At this point, she seems to have been able to hold her aide’s hand and may still have been conscious.
Apparently, while the bullet had entered Gifford's brain, it took the most "benign" path possible. It seems to have only damaged the left side of her brain, and she seems to be recovering and managing to comply with simple commands. Medical staff have indicated that they cannot say if and when she will fully recover, but they are cautiously optimistic.
Loughner, a resident of Tuscon where he lives with his parents, has now been formally charged. A second man who was wanted for questioning on Sunday eventually turned out to be the cab driver who took Loughner to the scene --- the alleged gunman apparently did not have enough money to pay the fare at first --- and has been cleared of involvement.
Loughner's purported YouTube account shows videos with a collection of mostly incomprehensible statements against a backdrop of rock music. He includes in his favorite books Animal Farm, Brave New World, The Wizard Of OZ, Aesop Fables, The Odyssey, Alice's 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.
Other information about the suspect from friends and colleagues portray a man that is smart, but mentally and emotionally disturbed. It was claimed by several media outlets that Loughner is a veteran of the Afghan War, but the US Army says he was rejected in 2008 when he tried to enlist. Loughner had attended Pima Community College in Arizona, but was suspended after a confrontation over his behaviour: school officials had asked him to undergo a mental evaluation because of disturbing videos he had posted online.
Some of the postings on Loughner's MySpace account, later taken down:
My sleeping bag is at an interstate wash from Tucson to Phoenix … am unable to sleep, but the ….
I know how to graduate without a cult ceremony: Please! Don’t think of murdering.
Well, the ******* pigs are genociding … no public property for housing and no jobs for me. Die you ******* pig! I know your brainwashed to love them ****** cops — **** you.
Literate Letter: Dear Reader, Brainwash....I’m searching. Today With every concern, my shot is now ready for aim. The hunt, a mighty thought of mine, for everyone....
Dear Reader...in confusion over being single starting. My current situation revolves around prostitution. A prostitute, that...
His last message on the account was a shot good-bye note which did not indicate what his next action would be: "Goodbye....Dear friends....Please don’t be mad at me.
A Twitter user who claimed to have known the shooter had this exchange:
@Caitieparker: Saying Jared Laughner was the gunman. Really hoping that’s not the same guy I went to HS with, really good friend. Freaking out right now!!!
@antderosa it’s loughner just checked my year book.
@antderosa I went to high school, college, & was in a band with the gunman. This tragedy has just turned to horrific.
@lakarune I haven’t seen him since ’07. Then, he was left wing.
@antderosa he had a lot of friends until he got alcohol poisoning in ’06, & dropped out of school. Mainly loner very philosophical.
@antderosa he was a pot head & into rock like Hendrix,The Doors, Anti-Flag. I haven’t seen him in person since ’07 in a sign language class
@antderosa As I knew him he was left wing, quite liberal. & oddly obsessed with the 2012 prophecy.
The gun used in the shooting was purchased last year in Arizona after the suspect had gone through an FBI background check. He has had previous run-ins with the police, but details on that are still unclear.