Congresswoman Gabrielle (Gabby) Giffords

Taken from MSNBC coverage of the attempted assassination which occurred on January 8, 2011 at a "Congress on your Corner" event at Oracle and Ina in Tucson at 10:10 am MST.

Gabby is my Congresswoman (AZ 8).  She is also my friend.  

I was at the Pima County Democratic Party re-organization meeting at Rincon HS in Tucson when we got the news.  Hundreds of CD8's top Democratic leaders were totally out of the loop, no TV, no internet...relying solely on our cell phones for any scraps of information we could get from friends and family who were watching the news...all of it conflicting...several times hearing that she had died...which wasn't the case.  Gabe Zimmerman, her head of Community Outreach was killed.

As of this moment, we have heard that the bullet has passed through the left side of her brain, from rear to front, that she is responsive to simple commands but that she is in grave condition.  A 22-yr old nut job was arrested on the scene and a 'person of interest' is being sought. (It was later determined that Jared Loughner acted alone.)

EDIT:  Loughner was originally diagnosed with schizophrenia and incompetent to stand trial; however, in 2012, that decision was reversed and he was convicted of 19 federal  counts.  He was given a life sentence.