Jared Loughner Faces Murder Charges Following Arizona Shooting

TUCSON, Ariz. — Federal prosecutors charged the suspect in shooting of Arizona congresswoman with attempted assassination and four other charges.

Jared Loughner is charged with one count of attempted assassination of member of Congress, two counts of killing an employee of the federal government and two counts of attempting to killing a federal employee.

Heather Williams, the first assistant federal public defender in Arizona, says the 22-year-old suspect doesn't yet have a lawyer, but that her office is working to get a lawyer appointed for Loughner.

The complaint alleges that a safe at Loughner's home contained a note from Rep. Giffords, thanking him for attending a "Congress at your corner" event, the same type of public meeting where Saturday's shooter occurred.

Another envelope in the safe had the phrases "I planned ahead," "my assassination" and "Giffords," as well as a signature that the complaint says appears to belong to Loughner.

Comments

[UberdanSounds]

12:47 PM on 01/10/2011

This isn't political though...I guess all his ranting about a new currency, & the constitution is all just nothing.

[timelord 1981]

09:49 AM on 01/10/2011

I have read some of the youtube presentation and i do not find anything either showing insanity or incoherency. I find a disturbingly type of logic. A very nihilistic reasoning that is not possible by someone who is crazy.

for those who need a definition of nihilism: the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life. Most commonly, nihilism is presented in the form of existential nihilism which argues that life[1] is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value."

This young man is not a victim so stop making him out to be one. The victims are the one's who were shot and killed or worse that Saturday! The political powers want us to believe that this is insanity, madness yes, but not insanity. If you have not read his ramblings then do so before taking the word of experts.

[MaryfromIL]

02:19 AM on 01/10/2011

Jared Lee Loughner went to Sportsman's Warehouse, he walked away with a Glock 19 semiautomatic handgun legally.

He passed an instant background check required under federal law for all gun buyers.

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives shows that Arizona is a net exporter of guns that are seized in crimes. In 2009, 1,637 guns first purchased in Arizona were recovered at out-of-state crime scenes.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/09/AR2011010901912.html

[Eldiaoctavo]

11:23 AM on 01/11/2011

Perhaps because the Pima Country sheriff and prosecutor declined to prosecute him for threatening fellow students at the local college - where he had been thrown out for his theats and weird behavior. It appears he has a long history of anti-social behavior that the "system" down there did not handle. Had he been picked up and prosecuted for his prior threats and verbal assaults he would have been registered in NICS and would have been unable to obtain the weapon legally.

People like this don't pop up like mushrooms after a rain. They have history. It is a sad truth that when most, if not all, events like this occur the investigation reveals many missed opportunities to have removed the threat. Anyone familiar with mental illness knows that these people make a lot of noise before they explode. No one was listening Just look at Tim McVeigh or that lunatic Army guy that blew up and killed dozens. These people send a lot of messages before they detonate. This guy is no different.

[Boopsie2008]

01:47 AM on 01/10/2011

So the feds moved quickly to charge him with several federal crimes. I can't help noticing that the charges don't cover a number of the people he murdered. Presumably Arizona will follow up with state charges of murder?

[jws2346]

12:26 AM on 01/10/2011

I had to go to a foreign media site to get the vital information about the accused shooter in Arizona. PITIFUL

[mango tree]

12:13 AM on 01/10/2011

The victims are the people that were killed and shot by the deranged gunman. I don't care what radio show he listened to or whether he likes to watch south park or whether he listens to eminem. None of that makes him the "victim". He's the assailant, the killer, the assassin, the criminal - not the "victim".

[ProgressiveOregonian]

01:56 PM on 01/10/2011

Yes, but acts like this don't happen in a vacuum. Something fueled the anger and drove him to commit these crimes.

[Ralphiec88]

10:38 PM on 01/09/2011

David Gergen's got a good piece on all the finger pointing. It's here:

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/09/httpwww-cnn-com2011opinion0109gergen-pointing-fingersindex-html/

[b525]

09:27 PM on 01/09/2011

It appears from this young man writings and internet postings that he's suffering from some kind of manifestation of schizophrenia.

He obviously was not able to properly sort, process and deal with some of the anti-government and political literature/rhetoric that he was getting from various media outlets/people.

Hopefully they'll take this into consideration when he is tried and he won't become a scapegoat for political anger.

He is, in many ways, a victim himself of the anti-government rhetoric and hatred that we've all been listening to for years now.

[June Martin]

10:13 PM on 01/09/2011

Yes, he is obviously seriously mentally ill, but of course, he should probably never be let out as he is clearly a danger to others. It's tragic all the way around, for all involved.

[starwheel]

10:38 PM on 01/09/2011

I would have hoped that was taken into consideration before he was able to buy a semi-automatic weapon. But apparently, I'm the crazy one.

[Kiwis4Obama]

08:36 PM on 01/09/2011

A tragic, genuinely and uniquely American story: a Jewish, pro-gun, moderate Democrat woman holds her seat in mid-terms (against the swing, in a conservative district and with the TP and Palin "targeting' her in their...um...'surveyor's sights'). Successful businesswoman, married to an astronaut.
Gets gunned down along with a 9-year-old girl (born on 9/11 and who was trying to find out more about politics) and a federal judge. Politically engaged retired folk also caught in the shooting.
Tales of courage and cowardice.
Then a paunchy white sheriff bravely identifies the reasons why.
There's a lot to feel bad about this whole godawful mess but among the gun culture and the right wing-nuts trying to shift blame to the media and 'hard left'(?!?) liberals, there are things USA needs to be proud of.

[dre7861]

08:32 PM on 01/09/2011

Hard to respond tonight - I got this one:

voyager48 equally to say anything more is senselss extrapolation and fabrication, yet we have a flood of people all trying to pass off their ramblings as if they were facts.

I challenge them to take a long look at what they are doing and ask themselves if they are indeed on the moral high ground they so fervently believe they occupy or whether they are just anothetr cog in the hate machine and as much a part of the problem as the people they are so liberally blaming?"

Why I think it so important to accurately pinpoint what influence this man to do what he did is more about prevention than scoring political points.

If you go to the doctor with a new disease and you tell him your symptoms are x, y and z but in reality they are x, b and c, the doctor can't help you recover and he can't identify the illness if someone more truthful were to come in with the same disease. Dismissing this clearly disturbed young man as insane and trying to ignore political overtones when they are as clear as bells seems to be naive and deliberately disengenious. We can never learn anything from our, society's, mistakes if we continue to deliberately ignore the truth or to dismiss it. This is inviting another unfortunate incident to happen again.

[lmb21]

08:16 PM on 01/09/2011

Can only imagine how Rush will spin this tomorrow.

[darrtown]

08:36 PM on 01/09/2011

Somehow Rush will blame Obama and the dems. when it is actually Sarah and him and Beck.

[poaster]

08:40 PM on 01/09/2011

He will blame it on Obama or Bo the dog.

[Fabian4Liberty]

08:15 PM on 01/09/2011

Why hasn't Google removed the youtube channel?? Do they enjoy the traffic that much??
www.internetanchorman.tv

[wolfdogNM]

09:07 PM on 01/09/2011

It seems so.

[HWBII]

10:24 PM on 01/09/2011

Oh, never mind.

May God or your family or friends help you.

[Fabian4Liberty]

08:14 PM on 01/09/2011

The blame game over the horrible acts in Arizona is very disturbing. It appears many have lost all common sense. The only one responsible for these cowardly acts is the shooter. My heart and prayers go out to the victims and their families.
www.internetanchorman.tv

[Balzac]

08:10 PM on 01/09/2011

They ought to charge him with terrorism. He even mentions the very definition of terrorism in one of his terrorist videos. He should get the death penalty as a terrorist.

[Untameable]

08:01 PM on 01/09/2011

He is a terrorist, you guys know that, right?

[Abdul Nabi]

08:21 PM on 01/09/2011

Change the name from Jared to Jamil and he would be charged as such