Arizona: U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords Shot in the Head
January 8th, 2011And Now… ‘Dangerous Loners Hard to Catch Before They Act’
Wow. I’m not sure if this incident was purpose built as PSYOP, but it is definitely being used in that manner.
Via: AP:
The gunman accused of trying to assassinate Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killing six others, Jared Lee Loughner, was not on any government watch list that might have warned someone not to sell him a gun or caused police to investigate his unstable behavior.
It turns out there is not a list in the United States for people like Loughner.
The same goes for Joseph Stack, who flew his plane into an IRS office in Austin, Texas, last February. Stack left behind a 3,000-word, rambling screed about his problems with the U.S. tax code.
Less than a month later, John Patrick Bedell shot two Pentagon guards. He left behind anti-government writings and cited conspiracy theories involving the U.S. military.
Richard Poplawski, too, left an online trail of racist rants and paranoid thoughts about President Barack Obama imposing a gun ban before he allegedly shot and killed three police officers in the Pittsburgh area in April 2009.
In the past two years, there have been at least six incidents in which disgruntled Americans, acting alone, have taken violent action into their own hands. In many of the cases, signs of government distrust and paranoia wouldn’t have been enough to justify law enforcement intervention.
…
There are scores of domestic groups with members who oppose paying taxes, disagree with the government and voice their opinions eagerly. But their rights are protected by the First Amendment, and opposing taxes alone is not enough to trigger an investigation.
“These guys kind of fly below the radar until they decide to act, which makes it a challenge for law enforcement,” said Borelli, who is now a senior vice president with the Soufan Group, an international firm that consults on security issues.
—End Update—
Update: Same Lawyer Who Represented Ted Kasczynski and Timothy McVeigh Will Represent Jared Loughner
Lawyer, specializing in mind control patsies?
Via: Muckety:
Jared Lee Loughner, who is accused of killing six people and wounding several others including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, had an experienced capital-defense attorney at his side when he made his first court appearance in Arizona Monday.
At the request of the Federal Public Defenders Office in Phoenix, Judy Clarke, a San Diego attorney who was taken on the defense of several high-profile clients accused of killing, was appointed by the court to represent Loughner.
Clarke’s previous assignments include serving as a co-counsel for Theodore “Ted” Kaczynski. The so-called Unabomber was arrested on murder charges in 1996 and pleaded guilty rather than face trial in January 1998.
Clarke also was part of the defense team for Susan Smith, a South Carolina mother who received a life sentence for drowning her two sons in 1994.
She was one of the public defenders for Timothy McVeigh, who was executed for his part in the deadly 1995 bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City.
Clarke also served on the defense team for Eric Rudolph, who was sentenced to life in prison in 2005 after pleading guilty to the bombing at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.
And she was one of the attorneys assigned to Zacarias Moussaoui, who was sentenced to life in prison for his part in the preparations for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
Research Credit: Pookie
—End Update—
Update: Loughner’s Posts On Gaming Boards
Via: Wall Street Journal:
Last May 9, at two in the morning, Jared Lee Loughner typed a question to a group of about 50 online gamers located around the world: “Does anyone have aggression 24/7?”
He was back at his keyboard the following night. “If you went to prison right now…What would you be thinking?” he asked.
A trove of 131 online-forum postings written between April and June 2010, which were viewed by The Wall Street Journal, provides insight into Mr. Loughner’s mind-set in the year leading up to Saturday’s shootings in Tucson, Ariz. He stands accused of killing six people, gravely wounding Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D., Ariz.) and injuring 13 others.
The online postings paint a picture of a disturbed young man trying to impress his peers and struggling to find a purpose to his life. They range from prosaic chatter about weight lifting to nonsensical philosophical ramblings that left some of the gamers who read them wondering whether he was using drugs or had a mental disability.
—End Update—
Update: Loughner Neither Left nor Right
Via: TVNewser:
This morning on “Good Morning America,” ABC’s Ashleigh Banfield sat down with Zach Osler, a high school friend of Jared Loughner, the suspect in the Tucson massacre.
Osler says his friend wasn’t shooting at people, “he was shooting at the world.” Regarding the high-pitched talk radio and cable news political rhetoric, Osler says his friend didn’t even watch the news.
He did not watch TV. He disliked the news. He didn’t listen to political radio. He didn’t take sides. He wasn’t on the left. He wasn’t on the right.
—End Update—
Update: Loughners Kept to Themselves, Amy Loughner Worked for Pima County
Via: ABC News:
And neighbors painted a picture of a single-child home that was intensely private and increasingly insular and standoffish as Jared Loughner grew older.
George Gayam, who has lived next door to Randy Loughner for 30 years on North Soledad St., described their early relationship as amicable and engaging, like “average neighbors.”
Randy married Amy Totman in 1986 and two years later they had their first and only son, Jared. He then became a stay at home dad, while Amy worked for Pima County, neighbors said.
…
“There was times when we’d be out with other neighbor kids, and Jared wouldn’t be allowed out. He’d be watching from the window or door,” he said. “They all became very isolated. Randy was isolated, Amy wasn’t out anymore. Something changed. They just kept to themselves.”
“We used to talk, you know, though not a lot,” said Gayam. “But recently there was always some choice words said at times or gestures when someone was driving by. There’s no real rhyme or reason as to why.” Other neighbors said the Loughners’ behavior perplexed them and made them uncomfortable.
“Contempt breeds contempt,” said a female neighbor who asked to remain anonymous because she scared of Randy. “The family was contemptuous. It wasn’t the son. It was the father.”
—End Update—
Update: Small Skull ‘Altar’ Found at Loughner’s Home
The skull in the following piece looks to be associated with Día de los Muertos to me, but I’m definitely no expert.
Can anyone expand on this sentence from the piece:
Experts on Sunday said the elements are featured in the ceremonies of a number of occult groups.
What ceremonies? What groups?
Also, has anyone read about what the parents, Randy and Amy Loughner, did for a living?
Via: New York Daily News:
A sinister shrine reveals a chilling occult dimension in the mind of the deranged gunman accused of shooting a member of Congress and 19 others.
Hidden within a camouflage tent behind Jared Lee Loughner’s home sits an alarming altar with a skull sitting atop a pot filled with shriveled oranges.
A row of ceremonial candles and a bag of potting soil lay nearby, photos reveal.
Experts on Sunday said the elements are featured in the ceremonies of a number of occult groups.
Investigators have focused on Loughner’s online anti-government ramblings as the chief motivation for the shooting Saturday of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.).
The discovery of the shrine raises the possibility that Loughner, 22, may have been driven by other forces. Students and faculty at Pima Community College, which he attended until his suspension last summer, said Loughner was clearly at odds with the world.
—End Update—
Update: Police Clear Second Suspect, But Still Not Sure Loughner Acted Alone; Evidence Taken from Loughner’s Home
Via: KRCR TV:
Federal prosecutors charged the suspect in shooting of Arizona congresswoman with attempted assassination and four other charges.
Jared Loughner is charged with one count of attempted assassination of member of Congress, two counts of killing an employee of the federal government and two counts of attempting to killing a federal employee.
Heather Williams, the first assistant federal public defender in Arizona, says the 22-year-old suspect doesn’t yet have a lawyer, but that her office is working to get a lawyer appointed for Loughner.
Investigators say they seized evidence suggesting Loughner planned ahead.
Investigators said they carried out a search warrant at the suspect’s home and seized an envelope from a safe with messages such as “I planned ahead,” “My assassination” and the name “Giffords” next to what appears to be the man’s signature.
The 22-year-old Loughner is accused of killing six people and wounding 14 others wounded, including the Democrat lawmaker.
Meanwhile, authorities say a second man has been cleared of any involvement in the attempted assassination. Pima County Sheriff’s Deputy Jason Ogan said Sunday that the man was a cab driver who drove the gunman to the grocery store outside of which the shooting occurred.
Ogan says the man went into the store because the gunman apparently hadn’t paid his fare.
Authorities had been seeking the man as a suspected accomplice because he was captured on security cameras near the gunman and at the scene Saturday.
Ogan says the cab driver “came by, and we talked to him and we determined he was not involved.”
He also says authorities were not ready to say if they are confident the gunman acted alone.
—End Update—
Update: Gabrielle Giffords’ Official YouTube Channel Is Subscribed to Jared Lee Loughner’s Alleged YouTube Channel
At first, I thought that it must not be her channel. I thought that someone must have made up a fake YouTube channel and done this.
Nope.
It’s her official YouTube channel. There’s a link to youtube.com/giffords2 on her House of Representatives page, giffords.house.gov.
So, out of a total of two subscriptions on Gabrielle Giffords’ YouTube channel, one of them is to Jared Lee Loughner’s alleged YouTube channel, the channel of the alleged shooter. The other one is to Congressman Ike Skelton’s YouTube channel.
Who subscribed Gifford’s channel to youtube.com/user/Classitup10? Even more interesting might be to know WHEN that happened.
—End Update—
Update: Cops Hunt Second Man Believed to Be Involved in Congresswoman Giffords Shooting
Via: ABC News:
The gunman who shot Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in the head and then unleashed a spray of bullets that killed six and wounded 12 others at a town hall event outside a Tucson, Ariz., grocery store may not have acted alone, authorities announced tonight.
“We are not convinced that [the gunman in custody] acted alone, there is some reason to believe he came to this location with another individual, and that individual is involved,” Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said.
Police said a suspect was taken into custody, and Dupnik described the alleged shooter as mentally unstable. Though the sheriff did not name the suspect, he was identified by multiple law enforcement sources as Jared Lee Loughner, 22.
Dupnik declined to provide more information on the second individual who he would only describe as “white” and “in his 50s.” Authorities have photographs of the person of interest and are “actively pursuing him,” the sheriff said.
The congresswoman was the clear focus of the gunman’s assault, Dupnik said.
“He ran through the crowd and when he got to [Giffords] he just started shooting,” the sheriff said.
—End Update—
Update: Jared Lee Loughner Is the Alleged Shooter
http://www.youtube.com/user/Classitup10
http://www.youtube.com/user/Starhitshnaz
Jared Lee Loughner's Alleged YouTube Profile
—End Update—
Update: Federal Judge John M. Roll Killed in Arizona Attack
Via: MSNBC:
Federal officials told NBC News that U.S. District Court Judge John M. Roll was among those who was shot and had died. He was the chief judge in Arizona, appointed in 1991 by the first President Bush. He became chief judge in 2006.
—End Update—
Update: Gabrielle Giffords Alive, But in Critical Condition
Via: AZ Capitol Times:
A hospital spokeswoman said Giffords was alive and in critical condition after the shooting.
—End Update—
Via: NPR:
U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona was shot in the head outside a grocery store in Tucson while holding a public event, Arizona Public Media reported Saturday.
The Democrat, who was re-elected to her third term in November, was hosting a “Congress on Your Corner” event at the Safeway in northwest Tucson when a gunman ran up and started shooting, according to Peter Michaels, news director of Arizona Public Media.
At least nine other people, including members of her staff, were hurt. Giffords was transported to University Medical Center in Tucson. Her condition was not immediately known.
Giffords was talking to a couple when the suspect ran up firing indiscriminately and then ran off, Michaels said.
The suspect was tackled by a bystander and taken into custody. He was not injured.
Giffords was first elected to represent Arizona’s 8th District in 2006. The “Congress on Your Corner” events allow constituents to present their concerns directly to her.
He left Catcher in the Rye off his list of favorite books…
Any ideas yet..?
A couple of guesses here:
http://duncanofinioan.wordpress.com/2011/01/08/anatomy-of-an-assassination-attempt-gabrielle-giffords/
I used to live in Tucson. You can find day of the dead paraphernalia all over the place. Candles like that (which are not necessarily associated with Dia de los Murtos) are $1 at a mexican supermarket. Usually there’s a picture of some saint on the side. The fact that they’re plain makes me think he’s actually bought them at a hobby store.
I don’t particularly recognize the skull design, but skull motifs are so common in day of the dead celebrations that it could from any mexican-kitsch store. It could just as easily be from an halloween store in the mall, or from a hobby store around halloween time. And shrivelled oranges? Tucson’s streets are lined with sour oranges. They fall off and build up in the gutters until someone comes along and clears them out.
So we’ve got some potting soil, a couple of pots, a few candles (you’d want light inside a tent…), a bunch of dried up oranges, and a toy skull replica.
He’s a disturbed kid with a tent in his parents’ backyard, full of the debris of adolescent playacting. No one would think anything more those items if he hadn’t gone on a shooting spree.
‘The Occult’ is just a fear-mongering phrase that frightens the bulk of the vaguely christian population of the US. It makes for juicier news articles than: ‘Nutty Kid Shoots Public Figures’.
Yah, Zeke my forays into the Southwest USA and Mexico showed shrines everywhere. But Skulls and oranges? Sounds uniquely strange to me. Dunno what that’s all about.
NPR talked with one his teacher’s and about students in class with him who were very afraid of him. Didn’t say what the parents were about, only that they were called into the community college where he was an obvious disturbance, and then expelled.
I for one, don’t even know what a Tweet is, and I don’t and have never wanted to participate in Facebook, but I imagine this is just another way to shut the whole human connection enterprise down. Odd coinkeydink that the oxymoron-ly titled “Justice Department” went after Wikileaks and other Twitter accounts at the same time these killings occurred.
Loughner may have been the “lone shooter” but it sure sounds like the culture of his time and all the big mouth millionares infected his being. Prayers for him that he survives his insanity and that he learns to know how he was a target of the PTB to carry out their will.
And double prayers for Gifford, what a beautiful woman! If more attention had been paid to what she was vocalizing about being attacked, oh, this might not have occurred. Who knows?
I wonder if some know the meaning of the words SHAME ON YOU? Shame. Not such a difficult concept. Enough to stop me dead in my tracks several times throughout my life. Hope that shame event happens for many more.
If my Dad were alive, he’d be after these “adults” as if they were kids and tell them he was going to give them a “lickin with the strap.” I don’t know that was the wisest way to bring up children, but I can tell you, whenever I did something wrong that was really over the top (and I knew it was) that’s what happened to me. I don’t wish anything more on anyone than to see several big mouths paid millions to open their big mouths 24/7 365 to get a lickin with the strap.
i want to clarify that the only time I remember actually being hit with the strap was when I was about 5 years old. I was tired of waiting for Dad to pick me up from school and set off on my own and had walked about 2 of the 3 miles home when Dad was finally sighted coming down the road. He had the trailer behind the car, and had been picking up manure for the garden, and time got away from him.
I think he hit me because he was filled with shame for forgetting me, and was terrified of what could have happened to me, this little tyke.
At least my Dad loved me enough to teach me a NOT AGAIN lesson. Wish I’d see that strength in other parents in my lifetime.