Saturday, January 08, 2011

BREAKING



note: Fox TV is reporting betyween 12 and 19 others were also shot, as many as 5 already dead, but nothing confirmed yet.

Newsmax:

Rep. Giffords Shot in Arizona; Gunman Held

TUCSON, Ariz. – Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona was shot in the head Saturday and an unknown number of others were wounded when an assailant opened fire in an area where the lawmaker was meeting with constituents, officials said.

There were varying accounts on Giffords' condition, but a hospital spokesman said the Democrat was in critical condition. An aide to the Democrat was killed. An unknown number of others was injured, officials officials said, including additional aides to the lawmaker.

Congressional officials said one of the victims died soon after the attack, and others were taken to a nearby hospital. The officials said the wounded included some of Gifford's aides who were with her at the time.

One official added the attack was carried out 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."

They said the FBI and local law enforcement were investigating the attack, which took place while Giffords was greeting constituents outside a grocery store.

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.

Giffords was elected to Congress amid a wave of Democratic victories in the 2006 election. The former state lawmaker won a narrow victory against a tea party favorite in the 2010 election.

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.

Her Tucson office was vandlized 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.

26 comments:

Always On Watch said...

OMG!

Do we know much about the shooter yet?

Always On Watch said...

I meant "much more"?

cjk said...

This is the way they do things in Pakistan, it must not be allowed to go unpunished here.
If the murderer turns out to espouse any type of conservative lean, let us be true conservatives be among the first to reject him.
5 dead I hear including a child!

American Rose said...

Fox News just read from a you tube video the shooter made. It does sound as if he is a right wing extremist as in the video he talks about English being our language and how the majority of people in the county where he lives are illiterate, that they need to learn English grammar?

Always On Watch said...

English grammar?

Yikes!

I can see how this story is going to turn out: the guy was a xenophobe.

midnight rider said...

That's what I'm hearing Rose. Sounds like white wing extremist.

Info is still very chaotic and scattered right now. ( year old dead, federa judge dead. He went from person to person putting a gun to people's head and firing.

Anonymous said...

American Rose . . .go over to Gateway Pundit . . .much more reveals this shooter is no tea partier.
favorite books: Animal Farm, Brave New World, . . .Through The Looking Glass, The Communist Manifesto, . . .Mein Kampf, The Republic, and Meno.

In his favorite video at his YouTube account the US flag is torched.
@ WeaselZippers also has a photo of the suspect from an undated AZ article.

midnight rider said...

AoW -- this is what they would like to label a militia member. Watch for it.

Reports are someone returned fire on the shooter, Too bad they missed.

Always On Watch said...

go over to Gateway Pundit . . .much more reveals this shooter is no tea partier.

Please, God, let that turn out to be true!

Alexander Münch said...

WHO IS THE SHOOTER ?!!!!
I WANT HIS NAME!

N O W !

Always On Watch said...

MR,
Yeah, we'll likely hear that he's a militia member.

Always On Watch said...

Alex,
His name is Jared Laughner.

Always On Watch said...

Or maybe his name is spelled Loughner.

Apparently, this is his YouTube site.

American Rose said...

Yes, watched the flag burning video. Can't imagine a right winger burning the American flag?

Always On Watch said...

Found this at WZ, possibly a photo of the shooter:

HERE

Young enough to be schizo.

American Rose said...

And if he is an Afghan war veteran as is being reported, we definitely have to consider ptsd.

Alexander Münch said...

AOW,

So, His name is NOT Muhammad?...
Hummm...

"Allah Hu Akbar" !

NO 'MOSSAD' INVOLED !Huh?...

Thank G-D this time!

Alex.
.

Always On Watch said...

His videos at YouTube are really strange.

I'm just guessing, but it seems to me that this fellow was a nut -- like that guy that shot up Capitol Hill some years back. That shooter was worried about "the ruby red satellite."

American Rose said...

Yeah, definitely a very disturbed young man, and that he could post such videos and Facebook comments without anyone, especially those around him, flagging him for mental health treatment is troubling? He was sending out big signs.

Always On Watch said...

American Rose,
Unless he was completely isolated, someone around him should have picked up on signs of danger.

I wonder....Was he medicated and then quit taking his meds? That's what happened with the Capitol Hill Shooter.

American Rose said...

AOW: Most definitely. This happens time and time again, people acting out, like he was obviously doing, and no one saying anything.

Such a young kid too. If he is a war veteran we could glean a lot from the trauma he may have experience, but I'm thinking too that, as young as he is, he must have had a troubled upbringing?

I'm surprised we have heard nothing from family and friends yet?

Anonymous said...

Her father Spencer Giffords, 75, wept when asked if his 40-year-old daughter had any enemies.

"Yeah," he told The New York Post. "The whole tea party."
The London Telegraph

Anonymous said...

Tea Party person here, and I don't even know anything about this woman.

Anonymous said...

Twitter acct. of friend of shooter Caitie Parker describes shooter, Jared as left wing, quite liberal. & oddly obsessed with the 2012 prophecy. I haven't seen him since '07. He became very reclusive. He had a lot of friends until he got alcohol poisoning in '06 & dropped out of school. Mainly loner very philosophical. He was a pothead. Then, he was left wing.

American Rose said...

I know her father is in shock, ... but wow.

And all evidence is pointing to a left-wing, troubled young man.

Damien said...

Midnight Rider,

Oh great another psychotic murderous, gun toting maniac! I hope this guy spends the rest of his life behind bars.