2nd UPDATE: According to Fox News Rep Gabrielle Giffords who was shot in the head at a Safeway event in Arizona is out of surgery and is responding to doctors.
Doctors are optimistic for her recovery.
UPDATE: According to Fox News Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is hospitalized in surgery with gunshot wound to the head in critical condition!
THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!
We’re not Mexico, we don’t shoot politicians in this country!
NPR reports that Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and six others died after a gunman opened fire at a public event on Saturday, the Pima County, Ariz., sheriff's office confirms.
The 40-year-old Democrat, who was re-elected to her third term in November, was hosting a "Congress on Your Corner" event at a Safeway in northwest Tucson when a gunman ran up and started shooting, according to Peter Michaels, news director of Arizona Public Media.
At least three other people, including members of her staff, were injured. Giffords was transported to University Medical Center in Tucson.
Giffords was talking to a couple when the suspect ran up and fired indiscriminately from about four feet away, Michaels said.
The suspect ran off and was tackled by a bystander. He was taken into custody. Witnesses described him as in his late teens or early 20s.
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.
Giffords was married to astronaut Mark Kelly, a veteran of Desert Storm. They have two children.
More details coming when made available.
Memeorandum
