Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, a Democratic Congresswoman of Arizona was shot in the head, along with several others during a public meeting at a local supermarket in Tucson on Saturday.
While Giffords battles for her life, there are reports that at least 5 persons have been killed, including federal Judge John Roll and a 9-year-old girl.
It is being reported that, a gunman, Jared Loughner, 22, of Arizona, is in custody. It is not clear whether Loughner acted alone or in concert with others. Nineteen (19) persons were shot when Loughner opened fire.
According to the Daily Beast, Giffords, along with several others representatives, was included on Sarah Palin’s “target map”, which featured gun cross-hairs superimposed over her targets’ districts on a United States map.
Giffords’ Republican opponent, Jesse Kelly, whom she narrowly defeated in the November 2010 mid-term elections, held a campaign event in which he invited supporters to shoot a machine gun. “Get on target for victory,” an ad for the event read.
Giffords’ father, who rushed to the hospital upon learning that his daughter was shot, when asked if she had any enemies told the New York Post, “Yeah, the whole Tea Party”, reports the Daily Beast.
Congresswoman Giffords is married to Mark Kelly, a U.S. Navy captain and an astronaut. She was first elected to Congress in 2006 and was re-elected last November by a razor-thin margin–less than one percent of the vote, over her opponent.
