Rep. Giffords still critical after deadly shooting spree

TUCSON  Shooting suspect Jared Loughner is scheduled to appear in court Monday afternoon charged with two counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder in Saturday's mass shooting that left U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords clinging to life.

Doctors were breathing a "collective sigh of relief" Monday about Giffords, who was critically injured during what authorities called the targeted attempt on her life by a gunman. Six people died in the attack.

"No change is good and we have no change," said Dr. Michael Lemole, referring to new cat scans that showed no progression of increased swelling of her brain. "We can breathe a collective sigh of relief after the third day," which is Tuesday.

Lemole, chief of neurosurgery at Tucson's University Medical Center, said Giffords was following simple commands like raising her thumb, showing two fingers and wiggling her toes. He said that "implies not only are the centers of the brain working but they're communicating with one another."

Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said Loughner was not cooperating and told ABC News on Monday that the suspect had said "not a word" to investigators.

FBI Special Agent Tony Taylor said investigators searched a safe in Loughner's Tucson home and recovered an envelope with Gifford's name written on it, along with the words: "I planned ahead" and "my assassination." The envelope contains what "appears to be Loughner's signature," the court documents state.

Also recovered from the safe was a letter addressed to "Jared Loughney" from Giffords thanking him for attending a Aug. 30, 2007, constituent event at another Tucson mall.

Loughner, 22, was 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. He is scheduled to make his first court appearance at 4 p.m. Monday.

The Federal Public Defender's Office in Phoenix has recommended that San Diego attorney Judy Clarke take Loughner's case, The Arizona Republic reported.

She will appear with him at his initial court appearance and ask to be appointed as Loughner's attorney.

Clarke previously represented the "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski, the Atlanta Olympics bomber and Susan Smith, the South Carolina woman who drowned her two children by driving her car into a lake.

Giffords, an Arizona Democrat, was shot in the head at point blank range during a "Congress On Your Corner" event at a busy Tucson supermarket. The dead include an aide to the congresswoman, a 9-year-old girl and a federal judge.

"She survived because she's a fighter. That's why," Giffords press secretary, C.J. Karamargin, holding back tears, said Sunday. "Her will and her strength are reasons why."

Lemole said Giffords was fortunate the bullet did not cross the brain's two hemispheres, but rather went through only the left side. That region controls speech and right-sided movement.

Lemole said part of Giffords' skull has been removed temporarily to aid the healing process. "Brain swelling is the biggest threat right now," he said.

Rhee said Monday of the eight survivors in the hospital one is in critical condition; five are in serious condition; and two other victims are in good and fair condition.

"Trauma care will now take over," he said, which mean addressing the patient "as a whole" taking care of emotional issues like Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome and depression.

Twenty people were shot in total, Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said. Loughner was apprehended at the scene; a second man sought in connection with the case has been cleared, Sheriff's Deputy Jason Ogan said. The man was a cabdriver who drove the alleged gunman to the grocery store.

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Dupnik said the six killed included federal Judge John Roll, 63, who had stopped by to see his friend Giffords after attending mass; Giffords aide Gabe Zimmerman, 30; and 9-year-old Christina-Taylor Green, born on Sept. 11, 2001 and excited to meet the congresswoman after recently being elected to student council at Mesa Verde Elementary School. Also killed were Dorothy Morris, 76; Dorwan Stoddard, 76; and Phyllis Schneck, 79.

The mother of the youngest casualty of Saturday's mass shooting said Sunday that both her children — 9-year-old Christina-Taylor Green as well as her 11-year-old son Dallas Green— were invited to the outdoor rally hosted by Giffords, but Dallas, may have been saved by the a conflicting karate practice.

"Had he gone, I'm afraid he would have died, too," said Roxanna Green, 45, whose daughter suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the chest.

Born the day of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., Christina-Taylor Green was "anxious" to attend the event and meet Giffords after being invited by neighbor Susan Hileman, Green said.

Later that day, Green said she received a call from Hileman's husband saying her daughter and his wife had been taken to University Medical Center.

"I thought they had been in some kind of car accident, a fender-bender maybe," she said. "After 10 or 15 minutes of waiting and not hearing anything, I knew it was not good. Then, the surgeon came out and said they tried but they could not save her."

Green, whose husband, John, is an executive with the Los Angeles Dodgers, said her neighbor remains hospitalized with multiple gunshot wounds. The victim's grandfather managed the Philadelphia Phillies, New York Yankees and New York Mets.

"I have so many memories of her," Green said of her daughter. "She was a beautiful girl, inside and out. She cared about people and did so many charitable things. She was high energy. I remember her smile, her laugh."

In the wake of the tragedy, President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama and others around the country observed a moment of silence at 11 a.m. Monday "to honor the innocent victims of the senseless tragedy." Obama ordered flags flown at half-staff until Friday at sunset.

At the U.S. Supreme Court, the nine justices joined in the national moment of silence. Arrayed as usual along their tall mahogany bench, justices slightly bowed their heads. Earlier in the morning, Roberts said the justices wanted to honor "the innocent victims of the tragedy in Tucson."

"That sensesless shooting on Saturday caused devastating injury to persons who all, in their own way, contribute to the strength of our nation," he said.

Federal investigators have seized surveillance video that reveals a horrific scene of rapid devastation, U.S. Marshal David Gonzales said. He said Giffords was shot first and it took only several minutes for the gunman to empty a cartridge of 31 rounds before he was subdued while trying to reload his 9mm Glock gun.

In a tape of the call released Sunday by the sheriff's office, a 911 caller witnessing the mass shooting describes a frantic scene and says, "I do believe Gabby Giffords was hit. A guy had a semiautomatic pistol. He went in and just started firing and he ran."

Dupnik lauded Patricia Maisch, who was waiting in line with her husband to get a photo with Giffords when the shooting started. Dupnik said that after the gunman had fired the first clip of 31 bullets, Maisch ran up to the suspect and grabbed a full magazine as he was loading it into the gun. The shooter was able to reload, but the gun did not immediately fire due to a malfunctioning spring, Dupnik said.

Roger Sulzgeber, who was also in line, and Joseph Zimudie, who was at a nearby Walgreens and heard the shooting, then subdued the gunman, Dupnik said.

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Mark Kimble, 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, Kimble said.

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

Alex Villec, a 19-year-old volunteer, was organizing the line of constituents when the shooter approached and asked to speak to Giffords, Villec told the Arizona Daily Star. Villec said he told him to stand at the back of a line to wait for about 20 minutes.

A few minutes later, the shooter left the line and walked toward Giffords. "He was intent when he came back — a pretty stone-cold glance and glare," Villec told the newspaper. "I didn't see his gun, but it was clear who he was going for ... His goal was the congresswoman."

Villec said the shooter walked past him and raised his hand. Villec said he heard gunshots before ducking behind a pillar and running across the supermarket parking lot to a bank for safety. "It was bedlam," he said. "People were getting down on the ground. They were screaming."

Dupnik blamed, in part, gun laws that allow "everybody in this state to carry weapons whenever they want and that's almost where we are." He also said that "when the rhetoric about hatred ... about mistrust of government" gets heated, it inflames "the public 24 hours a day, seven days a week."

Giffords expressed similar concern before the shooting. Last March, shortly after the House passed health care legislation, Giffords' congressional office in Tucson was vandalized. Afterward, she referred to the animosity against her by conservatives, including former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's decision to list Giffords' seat as one of the top "targets" in the November midterm elections.

"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.

Federal law enforcement officials were poring over captured versions of a MySpace page that belonged to Loughner and over YouTube video published to the Internet weeks ago under an account "Classitup10" and linked to him.

The MySpace page, which was removed within minutes of the gunman being identified by U.S. 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, an author who identified himself as Loughner described inventing a new U.S. currency and complained about the illiteracy rate among people living in Giffords' congressional district.

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"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)."

Roll was hailed as a wise and fair jurist by his colleagues.

"We in the judiciary have suffered the terrible loss of one of our own," Roberts said.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said, "I am just heartbroken. Gabby is more than just a colleague. She's a friend."

U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, 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."

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called Giffords "a brilliant and courageous member of Congress."

Giffords was first elected in 2006, part of the freshman class that had ushered in a Democratic majority that made Pelosi the House speaker.

Giffords represents the 8th District, which spreads to the U.S.-Mexico border. She won her third term in November by slightly more than 1 percentage point over Republican Jesse Kelly, who had Tea Party support.

Giffords, who is married to astronaut Mark Kelly, had made immigration and border control among her signature issues during her three terms in Congress. A centrist Democrat, she approached the immigration debate in a nuanced fashion, mixing requests for more Border Patrol agents with calls to increase the number of work visas granted to foreigners.

Contributing: Marisol Bello, Kevin Johnson, Alan Gomez, Catalina Camia, Donna Leinwand, The Arizona Republic, Associated Press