Arizona Rep. Giffords shot, several wounded
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) – Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona was shot in the head Saturday, an aide was killed, and an unknown number of others were wounded when an assailant opened fire outside a grocery store as the Democratic lawmaker met with constituents, officials said.
C.J. Karamargin, a spokesman for Giffords, said the congresswoman was in surgery as of 1 p.m. local time and that an unspecified number of Giffords staff members were injured in the shooting. Karamargin said he had no other information on the conditions of the injured or on the circumstances of the shooting.
Congressional officials said an aide to the Democrat was killed, and unknown number of others were injured, including staffers to the lawmaker.
President Barack Obama called the shooting “an unspeakable tragedy” and that such “a senseless and terrible act of violence has no place in a free society.
U.S. Capitol police say the shooter is in custody as one official said he carried out the attack with an automatic weapon. The officials who described the events did so on condition of anonymity, saying they were not permitted to comment publicly.
“I am horrified by the senseless attack on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and members of her staff,” newly elected House Speaker John Boehner said. “An attack on one who serves is an attack on all who serve. Acts and threats of violence against public officials have no place in our society. Our prayers are with Congresswoman Giffords, her staff, all who were injured, and their families. This is a sad day for our country.”
Three hours after the shooting, the L-shaped shopping center in Tucson was blocked off by police and had fire trucks and other vehicles in its parking lot that blocked the view of the store’s front door. No shell casing could be seen from the area 500 yards from the store where reporters and photographers were kept.
Giffords, 40, was re-elected to her third term last November. She was a member of the Arizona House and Senate before coming to Washington.
Story Here:
Arizona Rep. Giffords shot, several wounded
Details are terribly sketchy right now, the MSM is all over the map trying to be the 1st to report ANYTHING and EVERYTHING, accurate or not, and that does NOTHING to help in informing the public on this sad event.
I am saddened by the shooting of Rep. Giffords and the many others that were shot today, and I want to extend my deepest condolences to all parties.
That said, I must say this; no SANE American gun owner would do such a thing. The fact of the matter is this; now, all LEGAL American gun owners WILL be blamed and WE will suffer because of the actions of one crazed individual, that at 1st glance, appears to be nothing more than a despicable anarchist and is rumored to be a fan of Ron Paul, Jesse Ventura and Alex Jones.
I’ll tell you this too, the actions seen today won’t help the gun laws in Arizona or those of the United States as a whole. High capacity pistol and rifle magazines will now be a fresh target for the gun grabbers.
Remember the Brady Bill and the Assault Weapons Ban?
If you are a gun owner and want to have ample supplies of high capacity magazines, you’d better get some soon, they may well disappear from the market altogether.
I am going to hold off on giving numbers regarding how many people are dead and/or wounded, I am seeing and hearing too many conflicting reports to feel comfortable with posting anything about the shootings that can be construed as factual.
I hate being forced to make a retraction or correction on a story that I post because I based my commentary on histrionic and hysterical reporters that are hoping for a Pulitzer prize.
I am seeing reputable people (bloggers) posting this story, and none of their stories have anything in common save the fact that Giffords has been shot. Wait for facts my friends.
Journalistic integrity my fellow bloggers! Journalistic integrity is ALL we have going for us. Use it, embrace it and keep this REAL!
This is a sad day for America. I don’t give a damn who did it, they should be interrogated and then shot. PERIOD.
The worst part about this entire thing (Other than the body count) is the fact that I don’t trust ANYTHING the media is telling us. I don’t believe any of the reporting thus far and by the time they have the “Facts” I’m not going to be able to trust them. They have ruined their credibility and our government is known to “Slant” the truth for political gain. Already we are hearing “Tea party” and “Rightwingers” even though the vast majority of these types of incidents are perpetrated by LEFTY’s….
Condolences to the victims, FK the killer, and pass the ammo, it could get ugly after this.
My sympathies to all the victims in this senseless act. Obama, bless his evil little heart, quickly condems this, but gives a “shout out” to an Indian Chief before saying anything about the victims of Major Hassan at Fort Hood, Texas.
This is a terrible story and my heart goes out to the victims and their families. And you are right, we can expect to see a push to create more strict gun laws, so we should be prepared for this and fight back against it when it happens.
Greetings from Tucson, everyone. The facts as they now stand are thus: Giffords is out of surgery, she was shot in the head. She is in ICU, the next 24 hours are critical but the prognosis for her recovery is optimistic. Among the 5 confirmed dead, one is a 9 year old girl, one is Federal Judge John Roll and one is one of Giffords’ aides. There were 19 injured and they are spread out throughout Tucson, although UMC has the bulk of the victims.
There will be a press conference at 6 pm Tucson time from the Sheriff’s Department, who is currently interrogating the alleged shooter, Jared Loughner, a white 22 year old nutcase. The FBI is on scene. Loughner was tackled by bystanders. The UA basketball game has been postponed out of respect. Brewer has ordered flags at half staff for the duration.
This is what has been verified so far.
I’ve been updating my status on FB as things come through confirmed.
Gabby is a gunowner; she vehemently defends 2nd Amendment rights; her husband is active military, an astronaut (Mark Kelly) scheduled to blast off on the last shuttle mission. They have been married since 2007; she just turned 40 in June.
I do not agree with the majority of her politics. What I do know, though, is this-for all of our bitching about reps that don’t stay in contact with their constituents, this occurred at a weekly meet and greet she holds every Saturday in Tucson-in short, doing the job she was elected to do. We don’t have to like her or love her, but she was doing her job as elected.
The Tucson reporters (I’ve had live stream going since this started) are NOT bouncing off the walls with the conspiracy/tea party theories. That seems to be people outside of the area. Opposing sides seem to be uniting in outrage at the violence and how it is never appropriate.
Yep another thoughtless act of violence that will hurt more than it already has.
You are right about stocking up on anything and everything you want that deals with firearms. I just got an email from one of the Gun Broker sites I use that states if you are from California…you have a very limited time to buy ammo online. I think it said after 1-20-11 that the citizens of California can no longer order or get ammo onliine. Sounds like the first step in stopping all ammo purchases for them…and maybe all the rest of us one day.
Thoughts and Prayers go out to all the victims and family members in todays shooting.
I am firmly convinced that there’s a hell of a lot that we don’t know on this one too, that’s why I have such a vague, general knowledge blog post…
I am NOT going to be like a lot of bloggers and go off half-cocked with non-facts… And the media has gone strangely silent for now…
I, being a gun guy, want weapon details, make, model and caliber… I have heard it was a 9mm Glock because of pics this shit-for-brains anarchist POS had on his site, but I really want to hear the *official* report…
The shootings yesterday are going to have all sorts of consequences — none of them good for conservatives.
The Tea Party Movement is going to lose some credibility as a result of the shootings — never mind that Loughner was some kind of nut and a left nut, at that, as far as we know at this time.
The MSM is doing all they can to involve the Tea Party and Conservatives with this. The guy was a left wing radical but that doesn’t matter to them. Like Rahm Emanuel says, “you never want a serious crisis go to waste”.