Jared Lee Loughner's Mug Shot (PHOTO)

Jared Lee Loughner's mug shot has just been released by authorities.

Loughner, the alleged shooter of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and others, shows off an eerie grin and hint of a black eye in the photo. He was quickly identified as a suspect Saturday, taken into custody and has since been charged.

Loughner has been called a "fringe character" and his YouTube and MySpace presence has been closely examined. His behavior at a community college prior to the shooting has sparked questions about whether colleges should be providing more resources for mental health.

LOOK:

Comments

[LarryHicks]

02:14 PM on 01/11/2011

Guy's definitely coo-coo for cocoa puffs. But watch as the media spins this away from him being crazy to stricter gun laws (which criminals could give 2 sh*ts about following anyway).

[rellybois]

07:06 PM on 01/11/2011

You're acting like he was connected to the mafia and had unlimited access to ammunition. It is likely that if Arizona didn't allow civilians to purchase semiautomatic assault weapons with zero/minimal background checks, that this tragedy would not have occurred.

[LarryHicks]

09:05 AM on 01/12/2011

True, but remember, nothing would have come up anyway. He was never officially diagnosed with anything.

So who do you blame here? The gun laws, or the mental health system in general??

[Nabil Muhammad]

08:54 AM on 01/12/2011

I don't think you should discount Arizona's lax gun law as a contributing factor so casually.

[wiserd]

11:33 PM on 01/16/2011

What law should have been passed that would have stopped him. Unless they develop a genetic test for schizophrenia or require a mandatory psychological evaluation beforehand, he could have gotten a gun in any state, so far as I'm aware.

[bradenton]

01:18 PM on 01/11/2011

He looks like someone from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Scary.

[lightoftruth2]

12:01 PM on 01/11/2011

You know what? Just a few months ago, Jared looked like a nice guy attending a book fair:

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.politicsdaily.com/media/2011/01/jared-loughner-427yp-010911.jpg

What happened?

By the way, look at the mug shot, the right side of his face doesn't align with the left side, his eyes are different, he has either bipolar disorder or schizophrenia.

[jboyko3]

02:27 AM on 02/15/2011

Actually, I'd suggest taking a second look at the mugshot. Specifically the second picture in which you can see his shirt. Look at the dark outline around the edges. Also notice how the left edge of his mouth has a sort of joker sneer. I'd suggest that this picture has been doctored in some way. Possibly Photoshop. It's not physically possible for his mouth to extend like that unless it had been slashed at some point. I'm guessing that the police may have attempted to cover up some bruises and got a little creative in the process.

[1differentdrummer]

11:43 AM on 01/11/2011

He appears happy to have the attention. How sad.

[tophersteele]

11:39 AM on 01/11/2011

This is not the mug shot. Please change your headline and caption. They are wrong.

[seawillow]

11:27 AM on 01/11/2011

What sort of things are bouncing around in there.....?

[tedmore123]

11:24 AM on 01/11/2011

Behold: the Fox demographic.

[jmengr]

04:31 PM on 01/11/2011

A sure ditto head.

[Iconoclast13]

11:22 AM on 01/11/2011

He appears to be so proud of himself and basking in his "celebrity" status. Thank God he's off the streets. If only it had been sooner. I wonder what, if any, attempts his parents made to obtain him professional help after being notified by Pima Community College of his expulsion for mental health reasons. Were they aware he had purchased a gun?

[El Saltine]

11:18 AM on 01/11/2011

look at the picture of this guy. Do you realy need to do a backgroung check? One look and the answer shou;d have been "no, you can't have a gun".

[Nabil Muhammad]

08:56 AM on 01/12/2011

this is sadly true.

[Gingercake]

11:01 AM on 01/11/2011

Last night I was watching Anderson Cooper and one of the national directors of the Tea Party Express (a dark-haired woman whose name I can't recall) was railing against people blaming groups like hers for the lack of civility in political discourse (she was a panelist with David Gergan, a former Presidential Advisor). At one point she seemed to be blaming the community college for not properly reporting Loughner to authorities so he could obtain mental health services. I was annoyed because programs such as mental health has been CUT in many states by conservatives who think such programs are "wasteful". Sometimes I wonder at the gall of these conservative commentators.... They cut governmental funding to "safety net" programs then blame other people when terrible things happen. Also, I found it interesting when David Gergan asked the woman if Loughner should have been allowed to purchase the gun that he used in the shooting-she WOULD NOT answer the question directly. She said that if a proper assessment would have been made of his mental status, he wouldn't been able to purchase the gun. Gergan and Cooper were stunned by her answer. Again, she implied that the community college was to blame for not referring him to some sort of metal health service. I am beginning to think that the Tea Party is disingenuous.... and dangerous.

[larrykat]

10:55 AM on 01/11/2011

Holy mackerel is that scary. I have seldom seen a photo of someone that says "insane" so clearly. I would love to pin this on Palin, Beck et al., but the fact is this guy was n uts and that's plenty enough reason for him to commit the crime.

[Tommy Garrett]

10:52 AM on 01/11/2011

How sad!!! This mug shot breaks my heart.

[gfreshski1]

10:49 AM on 01/11/2011

This is NOT his mug shot. We haven't seen it yet. This was taken by Pima County, but it is not his mug shot. We have yet to see it.

[hellotiki]

10:30 AM on 01/11/2011

He can put a light bulb in his mouth and make it light up!

[Anarcho-Syndicalist]

10:12 AM on 01/11/2011

I can only look at that picture for a moment. It's uber creepy. It's like seeing something you wished you had never seen.