Posted By thestatedtruth.com on January 8, 2011
We think all would agree, this is a travesty. Our liberties and freedom will become even more compromised as events like these change the landscape around us.
Ms. Giffords, 40, who the authorities said was the target of the attack, was said to be in very critical condition at the University Medical Center in Tucson, where she was operated on by a team of neurosurgeons. Dr. Peter Rhee, medical director of the hospital’s trauma and critical care unit, said that she had been shot once in the head, “through and through,†with the bullet going through her brain.
From Breaking News: Local media is reporting Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, a Democrat, was shot ‘point blank in the head at a town-hall like event in northern Tucson.
Update from NBC News: Shooter in custody.  Â
2’nd Suspect Sought in Arizona Shooting
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Update 2:Fox Phoenix: 12 people shot at Gabby Giffords community meeting. Congresswoman among the injured, while CNN reports 6 dead and 15 wounded.
Update 3:Reuters refuting the previous NPR news, and states that Giffords is still alive, in surgery, nine other patients brought in from shooting, per a hospital spokeswoman.
A gunman indiscriminately fired into a crowd at a gathering for Democratic representative Gabrielle Giffords outside a Safeway in Tucson, Arizona this morning. Giffords and at least five others were shot, according to NPR. The gunman was tackled and arrested.
Update: According  to an eyewitness, Steven Rayle who was on the scene at the time of the shooting and helped to hold the suspect down while waiting for police. Here’s what he said:
The event was very informal: Gifford had set up a table outside the Safeway and about 20-30 people were gathered to talk to her. The gunman, who may have come from inside the Safeway, walked up and shot Gifford in the head first. According to Rayle, who is a former ER doctor, Gifford was able to move her hands after being shot.
After shooting Gifford, the gunman opened fire indiscriminately for a few seconds, hitting a number of people, including a kid no older than 10 years old. Rayle hid behind a concrete pole and pretended to be dead. When the gunman apparently ran out of ammunition he attempted to flee, but a member of Gifford’s staff tackled him. The Rayle helped hold him down while waiting for the sheriff to arrive, about 15-or 20 minutes later. 30 minutes later the EMS came. Rayle said he was “stunned” by how long it took medical help to arrive.
The man was young, mid-to-late 20s, white clean-shaven with short hair and wearing dark clothing and said nothing during the shooting or while being held down. He didn’t look like a businessman, but more of a “fringe character,” our source said.
From Giffrods Wikipedia page:
Gabrielle Giffords (born June 8, 1970) is the U.S. Representative for Arizona’s 8th congressional district. She is a member of the Democratic Party.
She is the only member of the U.S. Congress whose spouse, astronaut Mark E. Kelly, Â is an active duty member of the U.S. military.
Giffords is known as a strong proponent of solar energy as well as for her work to secure the border with Mexico.
Giffords was first sworn in as a congresswoman on January 3, 2007. She is the third woman in Arizona’s history to be elected to serve in the U.S. Congress. In her inaugural speech on the floor of the House of Representatives, Giffords said a comprehensive immigration reform package needs to include modern technology to secure the border, more border patrol agents, tough employer sanctions for businesses that knowingly hire illegal immigrants, and a guest-worker program. In her first month in office, Congresswoman Giffords voted to support increased federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research, raising the minimum wage, endorsing the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, and supporting new rules for the House of Representatives targeting ethical issues. Giffords also voted to repeal subsidies to big oil companies and invest the savings in renewable energy. “We put our national security at risk by relying on oil from unstable regimes in the Middle East and Latin America,” Giffords told her colleagues in a speech on the House floor during debate on the Clean Energy Act. The act repeals $14 billion in subsidies given to oil companies and establishes a Strategic Renewable Energy Reserve to increase research in clean renewable energy, to develop greater energy efficiency, and to improve energy conservation.
Giffords is a member of the Blue Dog Coalition and the New Democrat Coalition.
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Tags: Arizona Shooting, Congress Woman Shot
