Political Assassination big time in Arizona Tucson City 6 dead

[mortarmafia]

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/01/08/arizona.shooting.scene/

'All chaos broke loose,' says witness of Arizona shooting
By the CNN Wire Staff
January 9, 2011 -- Updated 0112 GMT (0912 HKT)
STORY HIGHLIGHTS

* Six people died and 12 are injured in the attack, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords
* The shooting happened mid-morning outside a grocery store
* The congresswoman had been holding a constituent meeting
* "Like pots and pans falling on the ground right next to my ear," says witness

(CNN) -- It was a day and an event like so many others -- until it wasn't.

Six people were killed and 12 others wounded, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, when a gunman opened fire in front of a grocery store in Tucson, Arizona, Saturday morning, authorities said. The congresswoman had been hosting a meeting with constituents when the attack began.

"It was continuous shooting. There was no breaking between it. They walked up and, I'm assuming, just kept firing. It sounded like tons of pots and pans falling down on the ground right next to my ear it was so loud," said Jason Pekau, an employee of a business near the Safeway grocery store.

He heard about 15 to 20 gunshots.

Pekau said he was about 50 yards from where the shooting took place, and he described the parking lot immediately after the attack.
Who is Gabrielle Giffords?
Suspect identified in shooting spree
Doctor: Giffords shot through the head
Friend: She's a phenomenal woman

"I just saw people running, screaming towards where the shooting happened. Everyone screaming that it was Gabrielle Giffords," he said.

Giffords was shot in her head and was in critical condition Saturday afternoon following surgery, Dr. Peter Rhee of University Medical Center in Tucson told reporters. A 9-year-old girl and a federal judge were among the dead.

"I did see them take her away on a stretcher," Pekau said about the congresswoman. "She was moving from what I saw with my own eyes."

"From what I'm being told from people that had seen it, she was shot point-blank in the head by the shooter and then after that, basically, all chaos broke loose," he said.

Bullets flew through the window of the grocery store, he said.

Pekau said he saw several people being taken away by rescue workers on stretchers and watched as they were loaded into medical helicopters. At least two people were flat on the sidewalk in front of Safeway, he said. It was not immediately clear whether they were dead or waiting for assistance.

Video from the scene showed one of Giffords' banners still hanging in the storefront. Yellow tape was draped around the parking lot as police began their initial investigation.

Giffords won her third term in a closely contested race against a Tea Party-sponsored candidate and was one of three Democratic legislators who reported vandalism at their offices following the March vote on health care reform.

President Barack Obama spoke from Washington soon after the attack, calling it a national tragedy.

He underlined how simply the day began -- like any other.

"It's not surprising that today, Gabby was going what she was always does -- listening to the hopes and concerns of her neighbors," said Obama, referring to the congresswoman by her nickname. "That is the essence of what our democracy is all about."

 

[mortarmafia]

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE7080AB20110109

Bitter politics of Arizona loom over shooting

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* By David Schwartz PHOENIX (Reuters) - Even before the shooting of a U.S. congresswoman on Saturday, the state of Arizona was in the throes of a convulsive political year that had come to symbolize a bitter partisan divide across much of...

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* Factbox: Reaction to shooting of congresswoman Giffords
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* UPDATE 1-FACTBOX-Reaction to shooting of congresswoman Giffords
6:34pm EST

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* Giffords had faced threats, vandalism previously
6:26pm EST
* WRAPUP-1-U.S. congresswoman wounded, five killed in shooting
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A law enforcement personnel stands outside the home of Jared L. Loughner, identified by federal officials as the suspect arrested in connection with the shooting of U.S Representative Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), in Tucson, Arizona January 8, 2011. REUTERS/Eric Thayer

A law enforcement personnel stands outside the home of Jared L. Loughner, identified by federal officials as the suspect arrested in connection with the shooting of U.S Representative Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), in Tucson, Arizona January 8, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Eric Thayer

By David Schwartz

PHOENIX | Sat Jan 8, 2011 8:36pm EST

PHOENIX (Reuters) - Even before the shooting of a U.S. congresswoman on Saturday, the state of Arizona was in the throes of a convulsive political year that had come to symbolize a bitter partisan divide across much of America.

The motives of the alleged shooter, who wounded Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and killed six people in Tucson, are not known and they may not be political. But politics nevertheless loom large in the wake of the shooting.

The spark in Arizona's political firestorm was the border state's move to crack down on illegal immigration last summer, a bill proposed by conservative lawmakers and signed by Republican Gov. Jan Brewer.

The law known as SB 1070 "superheated the political divide more than I've ever seen it in Arizona," said Bruce Merrill, a longtime political analyst and pollster at Arizona State University.

A majority of Arizonans supported it, but opponents and many in the large Hispanic population felt it was unconstitutional and would lead to discrimination.

As the law went into effect, Congressman Raul Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat and opponent of SB 1070, closed a district office in Yuma after staff found a shattered window and a bullet inside.

Giffords favored a softer approach to illegal immigrants and was expected to push for comprehensive immigration reform in the Congress that was sworn in this week in Washington.

ANGRY RHETORIC ABOUNDS

Other issues divided Arizona.

There was also anger over the economic crisis. The once-booming desert state was one of the places hardest hit by America's mortgage meltdown and foreclosure crisis.

Add to that rage over policies by Democratic President Barack Obama, namely his healthcare reform passed last year, and the rising national debt -- both issues that rallied conservatives in the last Elections, especially those tied to the Tea Party movement.

"I feel huge sorrow, that's just been building in southern Arizona for some time, this hate, hate, fear, somewhat around SB 1070, somewhat around healthcare reform. It definitely heated up when President Obama was elected," said Molly McKasson Morgan, 63, who participated in Tucson politics and knew Giffords.

Giffords narrowly won her reelection in November over a candidate backed by the Tea Party.

"It's never been this angry, it's never been this divisive," said Alfredo Gutierrez, a former state lawmaker.

And then there are the guns, readily available in a state with relaxed gun control laws.

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[mortarmafia]

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/918572--at-least-6-killed-in-attack-on-congresswoman?bn=1

Arizona Rep. Giffords shot, 6 killed in rampage
Published 1 minute ago

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Emergency officials work at the scene of a shooting that authorities claim involved Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., Jan. 8, 2011, at a Safeway grocery store in Tucson, Ariz. Blank Image

Video: Giffords shooting

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona was shot in the head Saturday when an assailant opened fire outside a grocery store during a meeting with constituents, killing at least five people and wounding several others.
AMANDA LEE MYERS Associated Press
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* Reactions to the shooting
* Photos: Shooting aftermath
* Video: Congresswoman shot
* Video: Shooting in Tucson

TUCSON, ARIZ.— Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona was shot in the head Saturday by a gunman who opened fire outside a grocery store during a meeting with voters, killing a federal judge and five others in a rampage that rattled the country and left Americans questioning whether divisive politics had pushed the suspect over the edge.

Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said Giffords was the target of a gunman whom he described as mentally unstable and possibly acting along with an accomplice. He said Giffords was among 13 people wounded in the melee that killed six people, including Arizona’s chief federal judge, a 9-year-old girl and an aide for the Democratic lawmaker. He said the rampage ended only after two people tackled the gunman.

Doctors were optimistic about Giffords surviving as she was responding to commands from doctors despite having a bullet go through her head. “With guarded optimism, I hope she will survive, but this is a very devastating wound,” said Dr. Richard Carmona, the former surgeon general who lives in Tucson.

The sheriff pointed to the vitriolic political rhetoric that has consumed the country as he denounced the shooting that claimed several of his friends as victims, including U.S. District Judge John Roll. The judge celebrated Mass on Saturday morning like he does every day before stopping by to say hello to his good friend Giffords.

“When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government. The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous,” the sheriff said. “And unfortunately, Arizona I think has become the capital. We have become the mecca for prejudice and bigotry.”

The reaction to the shooting rippled across the country as Americans were aghast at the sight of such a violent attack on a sitting member of Congress. The shooting cast a pall over the Capitol as politicians of all stripes denounced the shooting as a horrific and senseless act of violence. Obama dispatched his FBI director to Arizona. Capitol police asked members of Congress to be more vigilant about security in the wake of the shooting, and some politicians expressed hope that the killing spree serves as a wake-up call at a time when the political climate has become so emotionally charged.

“It is a tragedy for Arizona, and a tragedy for our entire country,” President Barack Obama declared.

Giffords, 40, is a three-term moderate Democrat who narrowly won re-election in November against a tea party candidate as conservatives across the country sought to throw her from office over her support of the health care law. Her office in Tucson was vandalized in the hours after the House passed the overhaul last March as anger over the law spread across the country.

Police say the shooter was in custody, and was identified by people familiar with the investigation as Jared Laugher, 22. Pima County Sheriff’s officials said he used a 9 mm pistol to carry out the attack. U.S. officials who provided his name to the AP spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release it publicly.

The suspect’s exact motivation was not clear, but a former classmate described Laugher as a pot-smoking loner who had rambling beliefs about the world. The Army said he tried to enlist in December 2008 but was rejected for reasons the military did not provide.

Federal law enforcement officials were poring over versions of a MySpace page that belonged to Jared Loughner and over a YouTube video published weeks ago under an account “Classitup10” and linked to him. The MySpace page, which was removed within minutes of the gunman being identified by officials, included a mysterious “Goodbye friends” message published hours before the shooting and exhorted his friends to “Please don’t be mad at me.”

In one of several YouTube videos, which featured text against a dark background, Loughner described inventing a new U.S. currency and complained about the illiteracy rate among people living in Giffords’ congressional district in Arizona.

“I know who’s listening: Government Officials, and the People,” Loughner wrote. “Nearly all the people, who don’t know this accurate information of a new currency, aren’t aware of mind control and brainwash methods. If I have my civil rights, then this message wouldn’t have happen (sic).”

Giffords spokesman C.J. Karamargin said three Giffords staffers were shot. One died, and the other two are expected to survive. Gabe Zimmerman, a former social worker who served as Giffords’ director of community outreach, died.

Giffords had worked with the judge in the past to line up funding to build a new courthouse in Yuma, and Obama hailed him for his nearly 40 years of service as a judge.

Giffords was first elected to Congress amid a wave of Democratic victories in the 2006 election, and has been mentioned as a possible Senate candidate in 2012 and a gubernatorial prospect in 2014.

Giffords is married to astronaut Mark E. Kelly, who has piloted space shuttles Endeavour and Discovery. The two met in China in 2003 while they were serving on a committee there, and were married in January 2007. Sen. Bill Nelson, chairman of the Senate Commerce Space and Science Subcommittee, said her husband is training to be the next commander of the space shuttle mission slated for April. His brother is currently serving aboard the International Space Station, Nelson said.

Giffords, known as “Gabby,” tweeted shortly before the shooting, describing her “Congress on Your Corner” event: “My 1st Congress on Your Corner starts now. Please stop by to let me know what is on your mind or tweet me later.”

“It’s not surprising that today Gabby was doing what she always does, listening to the hopes and concerns of her neighbours,” Obama said. “That is the essence of what our democracy is about.”

Giffords has drawn the ire of the right in the last year, especially from politicians like Sarah Palin over her support of the health care bill. It’s still not clear if the gunman had the health care debate in mind or was focused on his own unique set of political beliefs as witnessed in the Internet videos.

Law enforcement officials said members of Congress reported 42 cases of threats or violence in the first three months of 2010, nearly three times the 15 cases reported during the same period a year earlier. Nearly all dealt with the health care bill, and Giffords was among the targets.

Giffords’ Tucson office was vandalized a few hours after the House voted to approve the health care law in March, with someone either kicking or shooting out a glass door and window. More recently, the sheriff also said that someone in a “very angry audience” at a Giffords event dropped a weapon out of their pants.

In an interview after the vandalism, Giffords referred to the animosity against her by conservatives. Palin listed Giffords’ seat as one of the top “targets” in the midterm elections because of the lawmakers’ support for the health care law.

“For example, we’re on Sarah Palin’s targeted list, but the thing is, that the way that she has it depicted has the crosshairs of a gun sight over our district. When people do that, they have to realize that there are consequences to that action,” Giffords said in an interview with MSNBC.

In the hours after the shooting, Palin issued a statement in which she expressed her “sincere condolences” to the family of Giffords and the other victims.

The sheriff used the word “vitriol” several times to express his disgust with the political climate in the country and in Arizona, a heavily conservative state that put itself at the centre of the national debate on immigration last year with a contentious crackdown on illegal immigrants. Residents and politicians here have also vocally opposed Obama and Democrats on health care.

The shooting occurred at a shopping centre called La Toscana Village as Giffords met with voters outside a Safeway grocery store.

Mark Kimball, a communications staffer for Giffords, described the scene as “just complete chaos, people screaming, crying.” The gunman fired at Giffords and her district director and started shooting indiscriminately at staffers and others standing in line to talk to the congresswoman, Kimball said.

“He was not more than three or four feet from the congresswoman and the district director,” he said.

Law enforcement officials and reporters from around the country quickly descended on Tucson, the second biggest city in the state and home to the University of Arizona. The scene has been converted into a command post with about a dozen or so emergency vehicles and agents in FBI jackets milling about the location.

Outside Giffords’ office on Capitol Hill, a handful of congressional staffers could be seen walking into her office without comment, some with roller bags and one who was in tears. About a half dozen yellow flowers placed by one mourner sat outside the door.

In Loughner’s middle-class neighbourhood — about a five-minute drive from the scene — sheriff’s deputies had much of the street blocked off as curious neighbours asked what was going on. The neighbourhood sits just off a bustling Tucson street and is lined with desert landscaping and palm trees.

Neighbours said Loughner kept to himself but that they often saw him walking his dog, almost always wearing a hooded sweat shirt listening to his iPod. Neighbours said Loughner lived with his parents.

“We’re getting out of here. We are freaked out,” 33-year-old David Cleveland, who lives a few doors down from Loughner’s house, told the Associated Press.

Cleveland said he was taking his wife and children, ages 5 and 7, to her parent’s home when they heard about the shooting.

“When we heard about it we just got sick to our stomachs,” Cleveland said. “We just wanted to hold our kids tight.”

High school classmate Grant Wiens, 22, said Loughner seemed to be “floating through life” and “doing his own thing.”

“Sometimes religion was brought up or drugs. He smoked pot, I don’t know how regularly. And he wasn’t too keen on religion from what I could tell,” Wiens said.

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 non-profit group. The man said he wanted to “start a revolution” by killing people at the ACLU and the Tides Foundation.

During his campaign effort to unseat Giffords in November, Republican challenger Jesse Kelly held fundraisers where he urged supporters to help remove Giffords from office by joining him to shoot a fully loaded M-16 rifle. Kelly is a former Marine who served in Iraq and was pictured on his website in military gear holding his automatic weapon and promoting the event.

“I don’t see the connection,” between the fundraisers featuring weapons and Saturday’s shooting, said John Ellinwood, Kelly’s spokesman. “I don’t know this person, we cannot find any records that he was associated with the campaign in any way. I just don’t see the connection.

“Arizona is a state where people are firearms owners — this was just a deranged individual,” Ellinwood said.

Giffords is known in her southern Arizona district for her numerous public outreach meetings, which she admitted in an October interview with the Associated Press can sometimes be challenging.

“You know, the crazies on all sides, the people who come out, the planet earth people,” she said with a following an appearance with Adm. Mike Mullen in which the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was peppered with bizarre questions from an audience member. “I’m glad this just doesn’t happen to me.”

 

[mortarmafia]

Think this is the shooter on Youtube.Com

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<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/TwRHUmtE9Ag?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/TwRHUmtE9Ag?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

 

[mortarmafia]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/01/08/shooting-suspects-apparent-youtube-video/

Authorities Suspect Gunman in Arizona Rampage Posted Pre-Shooting Video Online

By Jana Winter

Published January 08, 2011

| FoxNews.com

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This March 2010 photo shows a man identified as Jared L. Loughner at the 2010 Tucson Festival of Books in Tucson, Ariz. The Arizona Daily Star, a festival sponsor, confirmed from their records that the subject's address matches one under investigation by police after a shooting in Tucson that left U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords wounded and at least five others dead. Police say a suspect is in custody, and he was identified by people familiar with the investigation as Jared Loughner, 22, of Tucson.

AP

This March 2010 photo shows a man identified as Jared L. Loughner at the 2010 Tucson Festival of Books in Tucson, Ariz. The Arizona Daily Star, a festival sponsor, confirmed from their records that the subject's address matches one under investigation by police after a shooting in Tucson that left U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords wounded and at least five others dead. Police say a suspect is in custody, and he was identified by people familiar with the investigation as Jared Loughner, 22, of Tucson.

Jared Loughner, the 22-year-old man who sources identify to Fox News as the gunman in custody in the deadly shooting rampage Saturday in Arizona, is suspected of posting a series of YouTube videos that show a focus on literacy and currency -- as well as his distrust in the government.

"Hello, my name is Jared Lee Loughner," one of the videos says, in words appearing on the screen. "This video is my introduction to you! My favorite activity is conscience dreaming; the greatest inspiration for my political business information. Some of you don't dream - sadly."

The video, posted Dec. 15, later turns more political.

"The majority of citizens in the united states of America have never read the united states of America's constitution. You don't have to accept the federalist laws," the video's titles say. "In conclusion, reading the second United States constitution, I can't trust the current government because of the ratifications: the government is implying mind control and brainwash on the people by controlling grammar. No! I won't pay debt with a currency that's not backed by gold and silver! No! I won't trust in god!"

Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was among the people critically wounded in the shooting at a public event in Tucson, and several people were killed, including a federal judge and a 9-year-old boy.

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Officials have said little publicly about the suspect in custody, but law enforcement sources who asked to remain anonymous identify him as Loughner.

Records obtained from the Pima County, Ariz. criminal database show Loughner was arrested in 2007 for possessing drug paraphernalia, a misdemeanor charge. The records suggest that Loughner paid a $20 fee and completed a court-ordered program for drug offenders.

Three months later he was cited for running a stop sign, according to court documents.

Another record shows a 2008 arrest for what’s described as a “local charge” in Marana, Ariz., 20 miles northwest of Tucson. The non-criminal charge was dismissed.

Loughner's page on YouTube lists Tucson as his hometown. He also said he attended Northwest Aztec College and Pima County Community College. And in one of the videos, he says he is a military recruit.

But an Army official told Fox News Loughner attempted to enlist in the Army in December 2008 but was denied.

The Army provided this statement:

"The Army has confirmed that the suspect was never in the Army. He attempted to enlist in the Army but was rejected for service. In accordance with the Privacy Act, we will not discuss why he was rejected."

In other videos, Loughner calls the people of District 8, his Ariz. district, illiterate.

In a bizarre equation that Loughner appears to mean as example of deductive reasoning, he concludes that "the police are unconstitutional."

In yet another rant verging on the paranoid, he says:

“I know who’s listening: Government Officials, and the People. Nearly all the people, who don’t know this accurate information of a new currency, aren’t aware of mind control and brainwash methods. If I have my civil rights, then this message wouldn’t have happen.”

He lists reading under interests, as well as "conscience dreams," and among his favorite books are "Mein Kampf," the "Communist Manifesto," "Animal Farm" and "Brave New World."

In a comment posted on MySpace three months ago in connection with a video about Pima Community College, Loughner wrote: "Hello, I know you’re illiterate! This is the greatest protest for exposure into a wrongful act. The school is breaking the constitution. If you watch the video then you’ll understand. The teachers are taking advantage of you in the first and Fifth Amendment. The United States Constitution, which is the law, can be broken at this school. Thank you and goodnight! Jared"

His last writing on his MySpace page was just hours before the shooting.

"Goodbye friends," he wrote. "Please don't be mad at me."

 

[merlion_CB]

When will they shoot Obama?

 

[Debonerman]

A la besotted.......we need to import more FTs like him!