Tucson plans memorial after shooting spree
Source: Agencies |
January 12, 2011, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A COMMUNITY rocked by a shooting rampage that gravely wounded a US congresswoman and killed six people took a step toward healing yesterday with a memorial planned for the victims.
The first real community gathering for mourners since the rampage, a Mass for all the victims at St Odelia's Parish in Tucson, was set for 7pm. US President Barack Obama was scheduled to arrive in Arizona today for a memorial service.
Representative Gabrille Giffords and 13 others were wounded in a shopping mall parking lot where Giffords had set up a booth to meet with constituents on Saturday. Among the six killed in the shooting were a federal judge and a 9-year-old girl. A 22-year-old man has been charged.
Giffords, a three-term Democrat, was in critical condition at Tucson's University Medical Center, gravely wounded after being shot through the head but able to give a thumbs-up sign that doctors found encouraging.
Speaking to NBC television early yesterday, Dr Michael Lemole, chief of neurosurgery at the University of Arizona, said there was no change overnight in Giffords' condition. Her doctors have declined to speculate on what specific disabilities the 40-year-old congresswoman may face.
Two patients injured in the shooting were discharged from the Tucson hospital on Sunday night. Seven others remained hospitalized.
The suspect in the shooting, Jared Loughner, made his first court appearance in Phoenix on Monday and looked on impassively as a judge told him he could face the death penalty for the shooting rampage. The judge ordered him held without bail.
Loughner is charged with one count of attempted assassination of a member of Congress, two counts of killing an employee of the federal government and two counts of attempting to kill a federal employee. Those are federal charges.
With few new details emerging at Monday's hearing, questions remained about what could have motivated someone to arm himself with a pistol and magazines carrying 33 bullets each, and rain gunfire on a supermarket parking lot crowded with men, women and children.
Comments from friends and former classmates, bolstered by Loughner's own Internet postings, have painted a picture of a social outcast with almost indecipherable beliefs steeped in mistrust and paranoia.
A military official in Washington said the Army rejected Loughner in 2008 because he failed a drug test. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because privacy laws prevent the military from disclosing such information about an individual's application. The official did not know what type of drug was detected.
Prosecutors said he scrawled on an envelope the words "my assassination" and "Giffords" sometime before he took a cab to the shopping center. Police said he bought the Glock pistol used in the attack in November.
The first real community gathering for mourners since the rampage, a Mass for all the victims at St Odelia's Parish in Tucson, was set for 7pm. US President Barack Obama was scheduled to arrive in Arizona today for a memorial service.
Representative Gabrille Giffords and 13 others were wounded in a shopping mall parking lot where Giffords had set up a booth to meet with constituents on Saturday. Among the six killed in the shooting were a federal judge and a 9-year-old girl. A 22-year-old man has been charged.
Giffords, a three-term Democrat, was in critical condition at Tucson's University Medical Center, gravely wounded after being shot through the head but able to give a thumbs-up sign that doctors found encouraging.
Speaking to NBC television early yesterday, Dr Michael Lemole, chief of neurosurgery at the University of Arizona, said there was no change overnight in Giffords' condition. Her doctors have declined to speculate on what specific disabilities the 40-year-old congresswoman may face.
Two patients injured in the shooting were discharged from the Tucson hospital on Sunday night. Seven others remained hospitalized.
The suspect in the shooting, Jared Loughner, made his first court appearance in Phoenix on Monday and looked on impassively as a judge told him he could face the death penalty for the shooting rampage. The judge ordered him held without bail.
Loughner is charged with one count of attempted assassination of a member of Congress, two counts of killing an employee of the federal government and two counts of attempting to kill a federal employee. Those are federal charges.
With few new details emerging at Monday's hearing, questions remained about what could have motivated someone to arm himself with a pistol and magazines carrying 33 bullets each, and rain gunfire on a supermarket parking lot crowded with men, women and children.
Comments from friends and former classmates, bolstered by Loughner's own Internet postings, have painted a picture of a social outcast with almost indecipherable beliefs steeped in mistrust and paranoia.
A military official in Washington said the Army rejected Loughner in 2008 because he failed a drug test. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because privacy laws prevent the military from disclosing such information about an individual's application. The official did not know what type of drug was detected.
Prosecutors said he scrawled on an envelope the words "my assassination" and "Giffords" sometime before he took a cab to the shopping center. Police said he bought the Glock pistol used in the attack in November.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
