Rep Giffords shot at town hall in Tucson (Sen. Lautenberg D-NJ) blames politics)

Washington Times ^ | January 8, 2011

[Cincinatus' Wife]

A Pima County Sheriff's spokesman said the suspect was 22 years old and had one prior minor run-in with the law as an adult. The spokesman said they are investigating whether someone else was involved.

Ms. Giffords' colleagues condemned the attack, with new House Speaker John A. Boehner saying "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," Mr. Boehner said in a statement Saturday afternoon. "Our prayers are with Congresswoman Giffords, her staff, all who were injured, and their families. This is a sad day for our country."

Several lawmakers laid blame for the incident at the feet of increasingly harsh political debate.

"Rep. Giffords was innocently pursuing her interest in serving the public when she was shot in this maniacal act," said Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, New Jersey Democrat. "America must not tolerate violence or inflammatory rhetoric that incites political violence."

[snip]

Her district covers the vast expanse of the southeastern corner of Arizona, and is home to several major military bases. It also includes a large stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border and some of the most active smuggling routes in the country.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Houston Chronicle: [snip] “....The shooting comes amid a highly charged political environment that has seen several dangerous threats against lawmakers but nothing that reached the point of actual violence.

A San Francisco man upset with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s support of health care reform pleaded guilty to threatening the Democratic congresswoman and her family, calling her directly on March 25 and threatening to destroy her Northern California home if she voted for health care reform.

In July, a California man known for his anger over left-leaning politics engaged in a shootout with highway patrol officers after planning an attack on the ACLU and another nonprofit group. The man said he wanted to “start a revolution” by killing people at the ACLU and the Tides Foundation.

Giffords herself has drawn the ire of the right, especially for her support of the health care bill from politicians like Sarah Palin.

Her Tucson office was vandalized a few hours after the House vote to approve the health care law in March, with someone either kicking or shooting out a glass door and window…….” TERRY TANG and AMANDA LEE MYERS, AP
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/7372146.html

Daily Kos: Sarah Palin’s Culpability in Attempted Assassination of Giffords
by BJ Rudell
Sat Jan 08, 2011 at 12:23:13 PM PST
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/1/8/934315/-Sarah-Palins-Culpability-in-Attempted-Assassination-of-Giffords

FR: Interviewed via phone on FOX NEWS with Shepard Smith, Linda Lopez said the TEA PARTY attacked Giffords, and had terrible words to say about her...essentially blaming the TEA PARTY for her shooting.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2653526/posts?page=27#27

Daily Telegraph UK: Miss Giffords had been named in March as a political campaign target for conservatives in November’s elections by former Alaska governor Sarah Palin for her strong support for the health reforms of President Barack Obama.

Mrs Palin had published a “target map” on her website using images of gun sights to identify 20 House Democrats, including Miss Giffords, for backing the new health care law.

The congresswoman, who is Jewish, is a gun-owner and supporter of the right to bear arms. She was also a strong advocate of abortion rights. She won re-election to her third term in Congress last year, beating off a challenge for a candidate endorsed by the Tea Party.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/us-politics/8248267/American-congresswoman-Gabrielle-Giffords-shot-in-head.html

[Cincinatus' Wife]

FR exclusive: Arizona Gunman Likes Communist Manifesto and Flag Burning Vid

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2653532/posts

Profile

Name: Jared Lee Loughner Channel Views: 271 Joined: October 25, 2010 Website: http://Myspace.com/fallenasleep About Me:

My name is Jared Lee Loughner! Hometown: Tucson Country: United States Schools: I attended school: Thornydale elementary,Tortolita Middle School, Mountain View Highschool, Northwest Aztec Middle College, and Pima Community College. Interests: My favorite interest was reading, and I studied grammar. Conscience dreams were a great study in college! Movies: (*My idiom: I could coin the moment!*) Music: Pass me the strings! Books: I had 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.

Video at site is called “Let the bodies hit the floor!” and show a man burning an American flag.

[KeyLargo]

Jared Lee Loughner
Tuscon, Arizona 22 years old

“Loughner was described by eyewitnesses at the Arizona shooting as a young white man who looked like a “fringe character,” in his mid-to-late 20s, clean-shaven with short hair and wearing dark clothing.”

[Gene Eric]

It’s reported the deranged #er shot Rep Giffords in the head, killed six others, and wounder yet another 11. The shooting took place at an event hosted by the Congresswoman Giffords.

Prayers for the injured and the families of those killed. Giffords is a Democrat representing the 8th District of AZ.

Regrettably, no one else was armed or prepared to suppress the assailant in order to mitigate the unspeakable slaughter.

[goldstategop]

I condemn Sen. Frank Lautenberg for seeking to exploit a tragedy for political gain. He condemns conservatives before all the facts are known about the identity of the shooter and his motives for the crime.

You Senator - are a despicable man and owe the country an apology though I don’t expect one from the likes of you. You’re as wretched as the person who tried to murder Rep. Giffords.

SHAME ON YOU!!!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

NYT: “….During the fall campaign, Sarah Palin, the former Republican vice-presidential candidate, posted a controversial map on her Facebook page depicting spots where Democrats were running for re-election; those Democrats were noted by crosshairs symbols like those seen through the scope of a gun. Ms. Giffords was among those on Ms. Palin’s map….”

[FREEPERS! You might want to weigh in and swamp this kind of messaging at the NYT)

—Stop this tea party madness. One civil war in our land is quite enough.

—Well, the shooter is a “real american” (as Palin would call him), not a mexican or muslim.
My prayers to her family.

—Glenn Beck has spent the better part of the last two years inciting violence and hatred. This is what all of that has come to. Take that man off the air, now.

—How terrible. Such violence is an unfortunate reflection on our uncivil political scene and inadequate gun control laws, and a tragedy for all the victims.

—Terrible, sad and scary news, but not unexpected given the climate of hate since the election of Barack “Hussein” Obama, like the fringe and some irresponsible politicians like to call him. The state of Arizona seems to get crazier by the day. And it’s no surprise that the Tea Partiers and their ilk are so fond of Arizona because it’s at the forefront of many of their battles. Hopefully this is not the way the rest of the U.S. is going. Scary indeed.

Assuming that these shooting was politically motivated (wouldn’t it be a terror attack or is that term only applied to Muslim extremists?): this is a huge warning sign for the President and his security staff (“be afraid as we might be coming for you next”). And the ideological culprits can most likely be found in talk radio, and a certain cable news organization. But of course, in the name of free speech, nothing will happen to them and they will continue spewing their lies and hate with impunity.

http://community.nytimes.com/comments/www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/us/politics/09giffords.html

[HighlyOpinionated]

Jared Lee Loughner NOT a member of the TEAParty
http://youtu.be/3L1lsLU-kUw
http://youtu.be/nHoaZaLbqB4
http://youtu.be/7uRjwPWaxiY

[Politicalmom]

I love how they can only find “conservative” examples of whacked out people. I bet we could come up with 50 leftist examples.

It’s also interesting to note that when it’s possible MUSLIM attacks, we’re all urged not to “jump to conclusions”.

[Maelstrom]

The internet is being scrubbed so fast that it is impossible to verify any information about the shooter.

People who scrub information from the internet like that, when something like this happens, need to be prosecuted for the destruction of evidence related to a crime, and/or alteration of evidence related to a crime.

[WashingtonSource]

Lautenberg got out of his coffin to make a comment?

[GregoryFul]

Judge John Roll was killed in the same incident. He may have been the primary target, considering his outrageous ruling allowing trespassing illegal aliens to sue a farmer for holding the trespassers for ICE.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

“News organizations are now reporting that federal Judge John M. Roll is among the victims of the shooting in Tuscon, Az, that has left Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Az) clinging to life with a gunshot wound to the head. Roll was reported killed at first, but was updated to say he was at the hospital, condition unknown, but his death has now been confirmed.

Judge Roll, a Pennsylvania native, was appointed to the federal bench by President George W. Bush, on a recommendation by Sen. John McCain (R-Az), and was unanimously confirmed in 1991. He and his wife were placed under a security detail for one month, in 2009, after he received death threats over an immigration lawsuit.

Here’s Fox News’ report on Judge Roll”

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/confirmed-federal-judge-john-roll-among-those-killed-in-arizona-shooting/

[justiceseeker93]

The Congresswoman, who is Jewish...

From this Jewish perspective, her supposed Jewishness has absolutely nothing to do with this heinous act. Notice that the gunman was shooting people without knowing their religious affiliation. If his motivation were anti-semitic, he would have gone to a synagogue on a Saturday morning to shoot people, not to a shopping center.

BTW, notice how the shooting up of Republican Congressman Eric Cantor's office last year was conveniently omitted from the Houston Chronicle story.

Giffords herself has drawn the ire of the right, especially for her support of the health care bill from politicians like Sarah Palin

I suppose that this means that Palin is somehow responsible for the shooting. What idiocy on the part of whoever wrote this trash!

[ncpatriot]

politicians like Lautenberg, and lib pundits are so irresponsible with comments like this.

[hecht]

She is a gentile. Her mother is a Protestant. Goes by the mother.

[Clintonfatigued]

I think you’re right about her Jewish faith being irrelevent.

The perp is one strange person. There are three youtube videos he released, which make no sense. There are two videos he is claimed to be in, but I don’t know for sure that it’s him. There is said to be a video of him speaking with a slight Scottish accent, which would bear out the rumors that his mother is an immigrant from Scotland. I haven’t been able to find the video, however.

[Clintonfatigued]

I stand corrected. I found the video which was alleged to be the shooter, but it appears to be a case of mistaken identity. Here’s the clip in question:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6kozuXRkwQ&feature=related

Here’s a pic of the perp at a book festival, I don’t think it’s the same guy in the youtube clip:

http://azstarnet.com/events/collection_aebeb63c-2f9e-11df-9021-001cc4c002e0.html?photo=8

[rmlew]

The videos show the perpetrator to be an insane anarchist. Nothing antisemitic. I didn't even know she was Jewish until today.
BTW. Does anyone know her mother's Hebrew name? "Gloria" isn't Hebrew.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Washington Post update:

[snip] “…In brief public remarks, President Obama said he had dispatched F.B.I. director Robert Mueller to the scene.

A 22-year old man was taken into custody after being tackled by people in the small crowd after the shooting. One pistol was recovered and it had what police described as "an extended clip."

The man was identified as Jared Loughner, who appears to have left a trail of Internet postings, including some that express convoluted observations about government. Law enforcement officials said they believed he was a military veteran.

Giffords, who in November narrowly won reelection to a third term, was hosting her first "Congress on Your Corner" event when a gunman ran up and began shooting her and others in her entourage with a Glock handgun, according to law enforcement sources.

Eyewitness Steven Rayle, a Tucson doctor, said he saw a young man wearing sneakers and what appeared to be navy blue sweats approach Gifford with a semi-automatic handgun raised. The man shot Giffords once in the face, he said.

After Giffords fell, he said, a number of people near Giffords sought to flee but were trapped--hemmed in by the table and a concrete post. The gunman fired into the crowd, he said.

"It was so close, and sort of a tight thing, there was nowhere easy to run," Rayle said. "So most of the crowd got it, you know."

"People that were there were just sitting ducks," Rayle said. "I don't think he was even aiming. He was just firing at whatever."

After a few seconds, Rayle said, the man stopped shooting and tried to flee. …”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/08/AR2011010802422.html?hpid=topnews

Shooter Video http://www.youtube.com/user/Classitup10#p/a/u/1/nHoaZaLbqB4

From the Smoking Gun:

Before its content was deleted following today’s shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the alleged gunman’s MySpace page included, as seen above, a picture of suspect Jared Loughner and a photo of what appears to be a Glock 9mm handgun atop a U.S. history textbook.

The images were among a handful of photos on Loughner’s MySpace page, where he used the nickname “fallenasleep.” Loughner, 22, was taken into custody shortly after this morning’s shooting spree outside a Tuscon supermarket. According to news reports, Loughner shot Giffords and 11 other victims with a Glock 9mm.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/buster