Assassination Attempt in Arizona - Developing Story

Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head this afternoon. She has made it through surgery and her surgeon is optimistic about her chances.

Giffords is a fairly progressive / moderate Democrat and has received threats, and vandalism on her office, before as well as being put "in the cross hairs" by the likes of Sarah Palin and other TEA Party opponents (see picture).

As many as 15 18 others were also shot by this assassin and at least one has two (possibly six) have died: an unnamed 9 year old girl Christina Taylor Greene and Arizona Chief Judge John Roll, who received death threats when he agreed to let a lawsuit by undocumented migrant workers go ahead against (presumably) their employer.

Those threats were whipped up by, wait for it, right wing radio talk shows...

Check out my twitter for infos, I'm trying to keep up in real time.

The shooter is reportedly 22 year old Jared Loughner. Some sources have indicated he is a military veteran, and possibly mentally ill. However, I haven't seen the mentally ill part substantiated well, and in my personal opinion it seems to be simply an easy (and ableist) scapegoat in trying to rationalize this heinous action.

More info can be found here.

Photos are coming out here.

The names of the six people killed in yesterday’s shooting in Arizona have been released.
See also this piece which gives some information about each victim.