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2011 Tucson shooting

SOLVED2010Safeway supermarket parking lot, La Toscana Village mall, Casas Adobes, Arizona3 SOURCESUPDATED JUL 2026

Documents violence · crimes against children — written to inform, not to shock.

Illustrative

On the morning of January 8, 2011, U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords was holding a constituent event called "Congress on Your Corner" outside a Safeway supermarket in Casas Adobes, Arizona, an unincorporated area in the Tucson metropolitan region. As 20 to 30 people gathered around Giffords, 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner drew a Glock 19 semi-automatic pistol and shot her in the head at point-blank range before firing on the surrounding crowd. He was carrying four magazines, two capable of holding 33 rounds, and thirty-one shell casings were later recovered at the scene.

Bystanders intervened when Loughner paused to reload after dropping a magazine, which Patricia Maisch retrieved. Roger Salzgeber struck him with a folding chair, and Bill Badger, a 74-year-old retired Army colonel who had himself been shot, tackled Loughner to the ground; Maisch, Salzgeber, and Joseph Zamudio further restrained him until police arrived. Giffords's intern Daniel Hernández Jr. applied pressure to her head wound and is credited, along with paramedic Aaron Rogers, with helping save her life. A doctor and nurse who happened to be shopping in the store, David and Nancy Bowman, set up triage and attended to nine-year-old Christina-Taylor Green, who later died at the hospital.

Six people were killed: Christina-Taylor Green (9), Dorothy "Dot" Morris (76), Chief U.S. District Judge John Roll (63), Phyllis Schneck (79), Dorwan Stoddard (76), and Gabe Zimmerman (30), a member of Giffords's staff. Thirteen others were wounded by gunfire, and a fourteenth person was injured while helping subdue Loughner. Giffords underwent emergency surgery within 38 minutes of the shooting and was placed in a medically induced coma; she was later moved to a Houston rehabilitation facility and eventually resigned her House seat in January 2012 to focus on recovery.

Loughner, a Tucson resident who lived near the shooting site, had been suspended from Pima Community College for disruptive behavior and had a prior drug-related arrest. Investigators found handwritten notes in his home referencing "My assassination" and "Giffords," along with a letter thanking him for attending a 2007 Giffords event. He was arrested at the scene, refused to cooperate with the FBI, and invoked his Fifth Amendment rights. Federal prosecutors charged him with the attempted assassination of a member of Congress, the killing of federal employees, and related counts, ultimately indicting him on 49 counts. In May 2011, a federal judge found Loughner incompetent to stand trial based on medical evaluations diagnosing paranoid schizophrenia; he was forcibly medicated. In August 2012, after further evaluation, he was found competent and pleaded guilty to 19 counts. In November 2012, he was sentenced to seven consecutive life terms plus 140 years without parole. Arizona state prosecutors subsequently declined to pursue separate state charges, citing consultations with victims and families who considered the federal sentence sufficient.

The shooting prompted national debate over political rhetoric and gun control, including criticism of a Sarah Palin political map featuring crosshairs over Giffords's district, which Palin rejected as bearing any responsibility for the attack. President Obama led a nationally televised memorial service in Tucson on January 12, 2011.

Key facts

Victims
Dorwan Stoddard, Gabrielle Giffords, Gabe Zimmerman, Christina-Taylor Green, John Roll, Phyllis Schneck, Dorothy Morris
Date
2010
Location
Safeway supermarket parking lot, La Toscana Village mall, Casas Adobes, Arizona
Case status
solved

Case timeline

  1. 2010-09-29

    Pima Community College suspended Jared Lee Loughner following complaints about disruptive classroom behavior.

  2. 2010-11-30

    Loughner purchased a Glock 19 semi-automatic pistol at a Sportsman's Warehouse store in Tucson after passing a background check.

  3. 2011-01-08

    Loughner shot Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and opened fire on a crowd at a 'Congress on Your Corner' event outside a Safeway in Casas Adobes, Arizona, killing six and wounding thirteen others; he was subdued by bystanders and arrested at the scene.

  4. 2011-01-09

    Federal officials charged Loughner with killing federal government employees, attempting to assassinate a member of Congress, and attempting to kill federal employees.

  5. 2011-01-12

    President Obama led a nationally televised memorial service in Tucson.

  6. 2011-01-19

    A federal grand jury indicted Loughner on three counts related to the attempted assassination of Giffords and attempted killing of two federal employees.

  7. 2011-01-21

    Giffords was released to Houston's Memorial Hermann Medical Center for rehabilitation.

  8. 2011-03-03

    Loughner was indicted on additional murder and attempted murder charges, bringing the total to 49 counts.

  9. 2011-05-25

    Judge Larry Alan Burns found Loughner incompetent to stand trial based on two medical evaluations diagnosing paranoid schizophrenia.

  10. 2011-08-01

    Giffords made her first public appearance on the House floor since the shooting to vote on the debt limit ceiling.

  11. 2012-01-22

    Giffords announced she would resign from Congress to focus on her recovery.

  12. 2012-08-07

    Judge Burns ruled Loughner competent to stand trial; Loughner pleaded guilty to 19 counts.

  13. 2012-11-08

    Loughner was sentenced to seven consecutive life terms plus 140 years in prison without parole.

Best coverage

No approved coverage links are attached yet.

People

  • Dorwan Stoddard

    VICTIM

    76-year-old retired construction worker killed in the attack.

    citation on file

  • Jared Lee Loughner

    CONVICTED

    Pleaded guilty to 19 federal counts including attempted assassination of a member of Congress and killing federal employees; sentenced to seven consecutive life terms plus 140 years without parole.

    citation on file

  • Gabrielle Giffords

    VICTIM

    U.S. Representative shot in the head; survived and later resigned her seat to focus on recovery.

    citation on file

  • Gabe Zimmerman

    VICTIM

    30-year-old community outreach director for Giffords, killed in the attack; first Congressional staffer killed in the line of duty.

    citation on file

  • Christina-Taylor Green

    VICTIM

    9-year-old killed in the attack.

    citation on file

  • John Roll

    VICTIM

    Chief judge of the U.S. District Court for Arizona, killed in the attack.

    citation on file

  • Phyllis Schneck

    VICTIM

    79-year-old homemaker killed in the attack.

    citation on file

  • Dorothy Morris

    VICTIM

    76-year-old retired secretary killed in the attack.

    citation on file

Places

Safeway supermarket parking lot, La Toscana Village mall, Casas Adobes, Arizona

32.3360, -110.9751

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Common questions

What happened to the victim?
On January 8, 2011, Jared Lee Loughner shot U.S. Representative Gabby Giffords in the head and opened fire on a crowd at a "Congress on Your Corner" event outside a Tucson-area Safeway, killing six people and wounding thirteen others. Loughner was subdued by bystanders, later pleaded guilty to 19 federal counts, and was sentenced to life in prison.
Where did the shooting happen?
Safeway supermarket parking lot, La Toscana Village mall, Casas Adobes, Arizona.
Who was convicted?
Jared Lee Loughner (Pleaded guilty to 19 federal counts including attempted assassination of a member of Congress and killing federal employees; sentenced to seven consecutive life terms plus 140 years without parole.).
What is the current status of the case?
Status: solved.

Sources

  1. 2011 Tucson shootingwikipedia · Wikipedia · 2026-07-07
  2. Contemporaneous coverage — The New York Timesnews · The New York Times · 2026-07-07
  3. Contemporaneous coverage — CNNnews · CNN · 2026-07-07
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