Monday, January 10, 2011

Gabrielle Giffords In Critical Condition


Gabrielle Giffords, a Democratic congresswoman from Arizona, was shot today at a public event outside a grocery store.

A spokesman for the Pima County sheriff says that at least 12 people were shot, with at least 6 fatalities. The Tucson Citizen reports that Rep. Giffords was "shot point blank in the head."

Rep. Giffords, an Arizona Democrat, was first elected to the House in 2006. She represents the state's 8th Congressional District.

The man identified by authorities as the gunman in yesterday’s shooting rampage, which killed six and critically injured Representative Gabrielle Giffords, Democrat of Arizona, appears to have left a trail of bizarre and antigovernment messages on the Internet. Law enforcement sources identified the gunman as Jared Lee Loughner, 22, of Tucson. Loughner, or someone using his name, left postings and homemade videos that laid out a fervent, though largely incoherent, set of political views.


“He wasn’t very outgoing, but he was personable. If you sat down to talk to him, he would talk to you back,’’ said Timothy Cheves, 22, a friend. “But he’d get frustrated with people easily. . . . He’d think that a lot of people were just idiots.’’

That included people in politics, Cheves said: “He was like a radical against both parties. . . . From what I got, it seemed like he didn’t like anybody that was in power.’’
Loughner never talked of using violence, Cheves said, but “there was something there that wasn’t quite right.”

Update :

Doctors are cautiously optimistic that Rep. Giffords, who Reuters writes is "battling for her life," will survive after suffering a gunshot wound to the head.

The Los Angeles Times  reports on the congresswoman's progress -- as well as the steep road she faces:

Giffords was conscious and responsive after brain surgery, though former U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona, a family friend, said she had suffered a "very devastating and very severe" injury.

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