Alleged Tucson Shooter Jared Lee Loughner to Be Arraigned

Photo Courtesy - Pima County Sheriff's Department(PHOENIX) -- Jared Lee Loughner, the man accused of shooting Arizona Congresswoman Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 19 others over two weeks ago, is expected to be arraigned in Phoenix Monday.

Loughner is charged with only three federal counts of attempted murder but will ultimately face murder charges, as well, and possibly the death penalty -- murder charges take longer to process because of the death penalty component.

At the federal courthouse in Phoenix Monday, Loughner will hear the charges against him and be asked to enter a plea.  It's unknown whether or not he'll try to plead insanity.

The judge presiding over Loughner's arraignment was flown in from San Diego after every federal judge in Arizona refused to hear the case.

On Jan. 8, Loughner allegedly opened fire at the Democratic Congresswoman's event outside a Safeway grocery store in Tucson, killing six people and wounding 14 others.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Brain Fluid Buildup Keeps Gabrielle Giffords in ICU

Photo Courtesy - Greg Bryan/Arizona Daily Star/Pool Photo(HOUSTON) -- Rep. Gabrielle Giffords has a buildup of fluid in her brain that will keep her in intensive care at a Houston hospital for at least several days, but doctors said that is not delaying her intense physical and speech therapy.

Doctors need to decide when a catheter inserted Friday to drain the fluid can be removed, which would allow Giffords to be transferred from the ICU at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center to The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research, or if they will need to insert a permanent shunt.

Giffords landed at Houston's Hobby Airport on Friday and was transported to the Texas Medical Center's intensive care unit. Before departing for Houston Friday morning, Giffords left the Tucson, Ariz., hospital where she had been treated since suffering a gunshot to her head in an attack two weeks ago.

In a sign of progress, Giffords was taken outside Thursday for the first time since the attack to give her some sunlight. She stood up Wednesday for the first time with assistance and looked out of a hospital window.

Giffords was shot in the head at point blank range as she stood outside a Tucson supermarket hosting a community meeting. The gunman killed six people, including a nine-year-old girl and a federal judge, and wounded 14. The bullet entered the back of Giffords' head and exited out her forehand.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords Lands in Houston for Rehab

Photo Courtesy - Greg Bryan/Arizona Daily Star/Pool Photo(HOUSTON) -- Rep. Gabrielle Giffords has landed in Houston, where she'll begin the next step of her recovery, focusing on rehabilitation at a renowned brain injury facility at the Texas Medical Center.

Before departing for Houston, Giffords left the Tucson hospital where she had been treated since suffering a gunshot to her head in an attack two weeks ago.

Giffords is being accompanied to Houston by her astronaut husband, Capt. Mark Kelly, her trauma surgeon, Dr. Peter Rhee, and her mother, Gloria Giffords.

In a sign of progress, Giffords was taken outside Thursday for the first time since the attack to give her some sunlight. She stood up Wednesday for the first time with assistance and looked out of a hospital window.

Giffords suffered a gunshot wound to her head Jan. 8 when Jared Lee Loughner allegedly opened fire at the Democratic congresswoman's event outside a Safeway grocery store in Tucson.

The motive behind the attack that killed six people and wounded 14 might never be understood, Giffords’ husband said. 

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords Leaves Tucson Hospital for Rehab in Houston

Photo Courtesy - Getty Images(TUCSON, Ariz.) -- Cheered by crowds of well-wishers, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords left the Tucson hospital Friday where she has been treated since suffering a gunshot to her head in an attack nearly two weeks ago.

Giffords is flying to Houston to begin the next step in her recovery, focusing on rehabilitation at a renowned brain injury facility at the Texas Medical Center.

Giffords is being accompanied to Houston by her astronaut husband, Capt. Mark Kelly, her trauma surgeon, Dr. Peter Rhee, and her mother, Gloria Giffords.

In another sign of progress, Giffords was taken outside Thursday for the first time since the attack to give her some sunlight. She stood up Wednesday for the first time with assistance and looked out of a hospital window.

Giffords suffered a gunshot wound to her head Jan. 8 when Jared Lee Loughner allegedly opened fire at the Democratic congresswoman's event outside a Safeway grocery store in Tucson.

The motive behind the attack that killed six people and wounded 14 likely might never be understood, Giffords’ husband said.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

'Intensive Rehabilitation' Is Next for Giffords, New Doctor Says

Photo Courtesy - Bill Clark/Roll Call via Getty Images(HOUSTON) -- Rep. Gabrielle Giffords had had a remarkable recovery from her gunshot wound two weeks ago, but she faces “intensive rehabilitation” in Houston, her new doctor told ABC News Friday.

She has been on a “smooth, glide path” so far, Dr. John Holcomb said, and he hopes to continue that good fortune when she is transferred from Tucson to the Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center Friday afternoon.

“What we’ll do is make sure that she has taken this transfer okay, has no other complications that have developed that need other operations or interventions and then help coordinate the team that is caring for [her], anticipating problems, intervening early so that those problems don’t develop,” the trauma surgeon said.

Holcomb wants to get her back into rehab as soon as possible, he said.

“The key is get into intensive rehabilitation...Bringing in lots of different people from different specialties to work as a coordinated team, speech, cognitive, physical rehabilitation.  All working together under the direction of a rehab specialist,” he said.

Giffords has avoided major pitfalls including infections and brain swelling.  Holcomb said her recovery “sounds fantastic so far” and hopes that the prediction by Giffords’ husband that she would be walking within two months comes true.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Caught on Tape: Surveillance Video Captures Tucson Shooting

Photo Courtesy - Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- The FBI is reviewing a chilling surveillance video that captured the shooting rampage that left six people dead and at least 13 others wounded including Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords at a Tucson shopping center.

The tapes are in the custody of the FBI and won't likely be released until trial, but they show in clear detail the sequence of events that unfolded the morning of Jan. 8.

The video obtained from the Safeway supermarket shows the area where Giffords was holding a "Congress on Your Corner" event.  Authorities said shooting suspect Jared Lee Loughner is seen walking into the picture at 10:10 a.m.

According to officials who have seen the video, Loughner, 22, quickly moves around a table and shoots Congresswoman Giffords on the left side of her forehead, just above her eye.

At the time the shot was fired, Loughner was within three feet of Giffords.

Then Loughner reportedly turned to his left, faced the crowd, and continued the shooting, officials said.

Officials said the crystal-clear video footage shows muzzle flashes as the gun is fired.

The surveillance video also captures an act of heroism as the suspect shoots victim Ron Barber.  Federal District Judge John Roll tries to help Barber, but is later shot in the back.  Barber survived while Roll did not.

Besides Roll, five others were killed including 9-year-old Christina-Taylor Green, Giffords' director of community outreach Gabriel Zimmerman, Phyllis Schneck, Dorwan Stoddard, and Dorothy Morris.

Giffords survived the shooting and her condition has been upgraded to serious from critical.

In all, sources said Loughner allegedly fired 32 rounds before he was tackled by participants in Giffords' public event. 

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Rep. Giffords' Husband Thought She Died; Says She Feared Being Shot

Photo Courtesy - ABC News(NEW YORK) -- For 20 crushing minutes, Mark Kelly thought his wife, Gabrielle Giffords, had died.

On board a friend's private plane rushing him and his family to his wife's side, Kelly watched television reports erroneously declare that Giffords had lost her life in the shooting in a Safeway parking lot in Tucson, Arizona on Saturday, Jan. 8.

"The kids...Claudia and Claire start crying.  My mother, you know...I think she almost screamed.  And I just, you know, walked into the bathroom, and you know, broke down," Kelly, an astronaut, told ABC News in an exclusive interview.  "To hear that she died is just, it's devastating for me."

For Kelly, it was the worst moment in a nightmarish day.  Calling from the plane, Kelly learned the truth from people who were with Giffords at the hospital -- that his wife had not died, but she was fighting for her life.

"It was a terrible mistake," Kelly said about turning on the television.  "As bad as it was that she had died, it's equally exciting that she hadn't."

Kelly also revealed that his wife had spoken about 10 times before the shooting of her fears of being shot during one of her town meetings.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Report: Accused Tucson Shooter Will Be Tried in San Diego

Photo Courtesy - Pima County Sheriff's Department(SAN DIEGO) -- Pre-trial publicity resulting from the Jan. 8 shootings in Tucson has resulted in shifting the trial of accused gunman Jared Lee Loughner from that city to San Diego, according to federal law enforcement authorities.

While Loughner faces five federal charges in the shooting deaths of U.S. District Judge John Roll and the wounding of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, the decision has been made to move the trial out of Tucson.

The final word on the matter must come from presiding Judge Roslyn O. Silver, but one law enforcement official said “it’s going to happen.  It’s just a matter of time.”

This is a victory for Loughner’s attorneys, who’ve argued that a fair trial in emotionally-charged Tucson is impossible.

San Diego was picked since its judicial district is one of the closest in proximity to Arizona.

Changes of venues are rare but have happened in other high-profile cases, such as the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing trial, which was shifted to Denver.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Nine-Year-Old Arizona Shooting Victim's Organs Donated

Photo Courtesy - The Green Family/ ABC News/Handout(BOSTON) -- The organs of nine-year-old Christina-Taylor Green, the youngest victim of last week's shootings in Tucson, Arizona, have been donated to a Boston-area child, her father revealed to The Boston Globe.

The Globe reported Sunday that John Green told the newspaper that he received a phone call about the transplant, but does not know any further details about who received his little girl's organs, or at which hospital.

A spokesman for the New England Organ Bank told The Globe he is unable to comment on donations.

Green told The Globe that the news that his daughter's organs were able to save the life of another child "really lifted" his spirits, and he and her mother, Roxanna Green, are proud of Christina, "who has done another amazing thing."

CNN reports that when asked if he would like to meet the young girl who received his daughter's organs, John Green said yes, he would.

"I'd give her a big hug. It's a blessing," Green said.

Christina-Taylor Green, who was born on Sept. 11, 2001, was one of six people killed when Jared Loughner, 22, allegedly opened fire at a "Congress on Your Corner" event at a Tucson Safeway grocery store.  She was waiting to meet Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona when she was shot.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Arizona Shooting Victim Arrested After Tea Party Member Threatened

Photo Courtesy - ABC News(TUCSON, Ariz.) -- Police arrested one of the victims of the Arizona shooting after he reportedly threatened a tea party leader at an ABC News town hall event in Tucson on Saturday.

James Eric Fuller, 63, was arrested and ultimately taken for a psychiatric evaluation after the incident in which he threatened Tucson tea party co-founder Trent Humphries at a special edition of ABC's This Week with Christiane Amanpour.

Fuller, who apparently objected to something Humphries said during the taped forum, used a cell phone to take a picture of him and allegedly shouted "You're dead," according to the Pima County Sheriff's Department.

KGUN-TV in Tucson reported that Fuller was in the front row at the event, and that he apparently became upset when Humphries suggested that conversations about gun control should be delayed until all the dead were buried.

Fifteen seconds after the conclusion of the town hall event, law enforcement officials approached Fuller and led him to a side entrance.  A moment later, Fuller was heard yelling, "What's the matter -- with you -- whores!"

According to Pima County sheriff's spokesman Jason Ogan, Fuller was arrested on misdemeanor disorderly conduct and threat charges.  Authorities decided that Fuller was in need of a mental evaluation as they escorted him off of the premises, and he was taken to a local hospital.  The hospital will determine when he will be released, Ogan said.

Fuller, a naval air veteran, was one of 19 people shot at a Tucson, Arizona Safeway grocery store at the "Congress on Your Corner" event with Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio