Wendy Davis

Homeless Man Who Talked Of Aliens Arrested In Firebombing Of Texas Democrat's Office

Nick R. Martin | March 21, 2012, 1:11PM

Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis (D)

Updated: March 21, 2012, 3:44 PM

A homeless man with a history of mental illness was arrested in connection with the firebombing of the Fort Worth offices of Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis (D), an official with the city's fire department said on Wednesday.

Police arrested Cedric Steele, 40, on Tuesday night, just hours after he was suspected of hitting the Democratic lawmaker's district office with Molotov cocktails.

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Gabby Giffords

FEC Rules Gabby Giffords Can Use Campaign Funds To Secure Home

Ryan J. Reilly | September 1, 2011, 1:57PM

Rep. Gabriel Giffords (D-AZ)

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) can use campaign funds to make home improvements that would enhance her security, the Federal Election Commission ruled Thursday.

Her campaign had requested to use about $2,200 to improve her home's exterior lighting and locks and install a duress alarm button.

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Gabrielle Giffords

Tucson Shooter's Forced Medication Halted For Now

Zoe Schlanger | July 5, 2011, 5:27PM

Jared Loughner

Just four days after a San Diego judge rejected the petition by Jared Lee Loughner's lawyers to stop his forcible medication, an appeals court in San Francisco has ordered just the opposite. A panel of three judges has halted the involuntary medication of the alleged Tucson shooter until further consideration Wednesday, CNN reports.

The 22-year-old allegedly responsible for the January shooting that killed 6 people and wounded 14 others, including Rep. Gabriel Giffords (D-AZ), was being given mind-altering psychotropic medication against his will until Tuesday afternoon.

The Court of Appeals has given until 5 p.m. PT Wednesday for US lawyers to argue why Loughner's forced medication should continue, putting pressure on both sides of the case to "file more detailed legal briefs," according to CNN.

Court filings last week documented a series of outbursts that were "either intended or reasonably likely to cause physical harm to another" at the Missouri prison hospital where Loughner is currently incarcerated. He "spat on his attorney, lunged at her, and had to be restrained by staff," screamed expletives and threw chairs at the court psychologist, according to the proceedings.

He was diagnosed as a schizophrenic by the prison psychiatrist but refused to be treated for the illness. The Federal Government originally argued to forcibly medicate Loughner as a means of treatment for the mental illness, not to subdue his behavior, despite acknowledging his potential danger to others.

Loughner's lawyers argue that he was not given a sufficient hearing when the District Court originally determined he could be given the psychotropic drugs, citing the fact that he did not have his attorney present, and officials never specified the drug and dosage he would be given.

They also argue that because Loughner is not a convicted criminal but rather a pretrial detainee, the Supreme Court precedent allowing for forcible medication of prisoners after an administrative hearing cannot apply, calling instead for a full-blown judicial hearing to determine his case.

District Judge Larry Alan Burns turned down this claim, finding "no arbitrariness" in the decision, and holding that the defendant "was afforded the required due process."

"A dangerous individual is dangerous, whether he is a pretrial detainee or has been convicted and sentenced," reads the Friday decision. The Appeals Court ordered a reevaluation Tuesday afternoon.

Loughner has been at a Missouri prison hospital since May, when he was declared incompetent to stand trial.

Jared Lee Loughner

Court Rules Accused Tucson Shooter Can Be Forcibly Medicated

Zoe Schlanger | June 30, 2011, 10:24AM

Jared Loughner

An emergency hearing Wednesday determined Jared Lee Loughner will continue to be be given psychotropic medication against his will. Reuters reports that a court filing urged the motion due to behavior that was "either intended or reasonably likely to cause physical harm to another," which included spitting on his attorney and throwing chairs at the prison psychologist.

The alleged Tucson shooter is on trial for killing 6 people and wounding 14 others, including Rep. Gabriel Giffords (D-AZ), who made her first public appearance since the January shooting at a NASA space center in Houston on Monday.

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Arizona

Arizona May Designate Colt Revolver As Its Official State Gun

Jillian Rayfield | February 23, 2011, 2:37PM

Not so fast Utah -- Arizona is now giving chase in the race to be the first state with an official gun. A bill to make the Colt revolver the state's official firearm passed out of the Arizona State Senate appropriations committee Wednesday by a vote of 9-4.

The vote comes less than two months after Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D) was shot in Tuscon, in a shooting that killed six people. Giffords survived and is currently in rehabilitating in Texas.

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Tucson Shootings

Report: Loughner Researched Lethal Injection, Solitary Confinement Before Shooting

Rachel Slajda | January 26, 2011, 2:22PM

Jared Loughner

Jared Loughner, the suspected shooter in the Jan. 8 attack on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, researched lethal injection, solitary confinement and political assassins in the weeks before the shooting.

Law enforcement sources tell the Washington Post that a computer seized from Loughner's home shows that he was researching the consequences to an assassination.

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Jared Lee Loughner

Tuscon: Loughner Indicted, Feds Will Seek Death Penalty

Ryan J. Reilly | January 19, 2011, 8:24PM

Jared Loughner

A federal grand jury indicted Jared Lee Loughner on three counts late Wednesday. The two page indictment released by the U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona charges Loughner with attempting to kill Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) and two of her aides, Ron Barber and Pamela Simon.

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Dick Cheney

Cheney Okay With Limiting High-Capacity Magazines In Wake Of Giffords Shooting (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | January 19, 2011, 1:45PM

Former Vice President Dick Cheney

Dick Cheney is no gun control advocate. In fact, as Rachel Maddow pointed out in a recent segment, he was one of only a couple members of the House of Representatives who voted against a ban on plastic guns back in the 1980s and is a regular at meetings of the National Rifle Association.

But in the wake of the mass shooting in Arizona that gravely injured Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) and killed six others, even Cheney indicated he's support restrictions on high-capacity magazines such as the clip allegedly used by Jared Lee Loughner.

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Tucson Shootings

Video Of Tucson Shooting Shows Judge Protecting Giffords Aide

Rachel Slajda | January 19, 2011, 11:17AM

Judge John Roll

Surveillance video from the shooting in Tucson reportedly show federal Judge John Roll trying to save the life of one of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' aides before he himself was fatally shot.

According to an officer in the Pima County Sheriff's Department, the video shows Roll trying to guide the aide, Ron Barber, to safety.

"It's very clear to me the judge was thinking of his fellow human more than himself," said Richard Kastigar, the investigative and operational bureau chief of the department.

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Tucson Shootings

Tucson Shooting Victim Who Threatened Tea Partier Apologizes

Rachel Slajda | January 17, 2011, 1:57PM

Shooting victim J. Eric Fuller arrested for threats

J. Eric Fuller, a victim of the mass shooting in Tucson who was arrested Saturday for threatening a tea party leader, released a statement of apology today.

"It was not in the spirit of our allegiance and warm feelings of each other as citizens of this great country," Fuller said in the statement, which he released through his girlfriend, according to the Associated Press.

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Jared Lee Loughner

Ex-Friend: Loughner Was Influenced By Conspiracy Theory Movie

Eric Lach | January 17, 2011, 8:43AM

In the same Good Morning America interview in which he said that Jared Lee Loughner "wasn't on the left, he wasn't on the right," former Loughner friend Zach Osler mentioned a documentary film called Zeitgeist, which he says heavily influenced the alleged Tucson gunman.

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J. Eric Fuller

Tucson Tea Party Leader: I Want Victim Who Threatened Me To Get Help

Rachel Slajda | January 16, 2011, 2:26PM

Shooting victim J. Eric Fuller arrested for threats

One of the 19 victims of last week's shooting in Tucson was arrested yesterday after standing up during a town hall-style meeting and shouting, "You're dead!" to the leader of the Tucson tea party. The victim, J. Eric Fuller, has been charged with disorderly conduct and making a threat. and was involuntarily committed to undergo a mental health evaluation, according to the Pima County Sheriff's Department.

The tea party leader, Trent Humphries, told TPM he hopes that if Fuller needs help, he gets it -- especially if it's the kind of help the suspected shooter never got.

"If pressing charges is the only way to make sure he gets the help he needs, we'll probably do that," Humphries said in a phone interview Sunday. "I'm not saying this guy's Jared Loughner, but I can't tell you for sure he's not a danger to himself, me or the community."

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John Ensign

In Interview About Giffords, Ensign Recounts 1996 Shooting At Reid's Office

Rachel Slajda | January 15, 2011, 9:29AM

Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)

In a local TV interview that touched on the Tucson shootings, Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) recounted threats that have been made to his office -- specifically, one incident in which a man shot himself outside of Sen. Harry Reid's (D-NV) Las Vegas office in 1996.

"Sen. Reid and I actually had a stalker or whatever you want to call him," Ensign told Fox 5. "He left very blood-curdling -- almost threats -- on our phones. He ended up shooting himself in front of both of our offices."

Here's what happened, according to contemporary news reports: In 1995, when Ensign was a congressman, a man named Michael McCusker starting calling Ensign's office. He wanted help, he said, getting back $23,000 he lost in a Mexican land scam. When Ensign's staff found they couldn't help him, McCusker continued calling the office. He eventually came in and handed staffers a note that said "Justice or Death" and claimed he had a gun.

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Jared Lee Loughner

Pima Community College Releases Jared Lee Loughner's 'Genocide/Scam' YouTube Video

Ryan J. Reilly | January 14, 2011, 9:55PM

A YouTube video in which Jared Lee Loughner called his community college a "Genocide/Scam" has been released.

"Alright, so here's what we're doing," says the man behind the camera as he navigates through a dark parking lot. "We're examining the torture of students. We're looking at students who have been tortured. Their low income pay in two wars. The war that we are in right now is currently illegal under the Constitution. What makes it illegal is the currency. The date is also wrong. It's impossible for it to be that date, it's mind control."

That's how a video Jared Lee Loughner posted on YouTube in September titled "Pima Community College School - Genocide/Scam - Free Education - Broken United States Constitution," begins. It's the video that ultimately got Loughner, the gunman allegedly behind the attempted assassination of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) and the murder of six others, suspended from the school.

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Jared Lee Loughner

Cops: Photos Show Loughner Wearing Red G-String, Holding Glock

Ryan J. Reilly | January 14, 2011, 3:17PM

Before he allegedly went on a mass killing spree Saturday, Jared Lee Loughner had photos of himself developed at a local Walgreens that showed him dressed in a bright red g-string, a Glock 9mm gun next to his naked buttocks, the New York Times reports.

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Westboro Baptist Church

Westboro Baptists Not Big On Obama's Call To Dial Down The Rhetoric

Ryan J. Reilly | January 14, 2011, 2:30PM

Shirley Phelps-Roper

There's a least one group not taking kindly to President Barack Obama's call for civility this week in the wake of the attempted assassination of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ): the Westboro Baptist Church.

Not surprisingly, a spokesperson from the infamous congregation (best known for protesting the funerals of soldiers killed in action with anti-gay signs) blew off Obama's plea to bring it down a notch in a phone interview with TPM on Friday.

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Washington Times

Wash Times: Criticism Of Palin's 'Blood Libel' Part Of 'Ongoing Pogrom' Against Conservatives

Jillian Rayfield | January 14, 2011, 1:11PM

Former Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK)

A Washington Times editorial defends Sarah Palin's use of the phrase "blood libel" in the wake of the Tucson shootings, by calling media criticism of Palin "the latest round of an ongoing pogrom against conservative thinkers."

Palin had been criticized for using the term "blood libel" to characterize media attacks against her, because of associations between "blood libel" and persecution of Jews in Europe. The term has its roots in the false charge that Jews would murder children and use their blood in religious rituals.

The choice by the Times to describe media attacks as "pogroms" is even more unfortunate since the term usually refers to destructive riots that targeted Jews during the time of the Russian Empire, and often resulted in massacres.

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Westboro Baptist Church

Westboro Baptists Wouldn't Be At Tucson Funerals Anyhow

Ryan J. Reilly | January 14, 2011, 12:20PM

Margie Phelps

The Westboro Baptist Church won't actually be protesting at any of the funerals of the victims of the attempted assassination of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) last weekend, the Tucson Sentinel reports.

Tucson Police Department investigators confirmed that the extremist anti-gay group -- notorious for protesting outside the funerals of members of the military killed in action -- will not be coming to the state, spokeswoman Diana Lopez told the paper Thursday night.

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Rush Limbaugh

Clear Channel Yanks 'Straight Shooter' Limbaugh Ad In Tucson

Eric Lach | January 13, 2011, 5:50PM

Several weeks ago, NewsTalk 790 KNST in Tucson put up a billboard to advertise Rush Limbaugh's radio show. The text reads, "Rush Limbaugh/Straight Shooter," and the ad is riddled with images of bullet holes. In the wake of the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) and 18 others on Saturday, KNST's parent company, Clear Channel, decided to take down the billboard.

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Jared Loughner

Police Find Black Bag Containing Ammo Near Loughner's Home

Rachel Slajda | January 13, 2011, 3:29PM

Police in Tucson have found a black bag containing ammunition near Jared Loughner's house and the FBI is analyzing it, according to local reports.

Investigators have been looking for the bag, which they say Loughner and his father fought over the morning of the shooting. According to police, Jared Loughner took it out of the trunk of his car and then argued with his father about it. When Jared drove away, his father reportedly tried to drive after him, but lost him.

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Jared Lee Loughner

Jared Lee Loughner Had Various Run-Ins With Cops Before Shooting

Ryan J. Reilly and Melissa Jeltsen | January 12, 2011, 5:55PM

Jared Lee Loughner's first contact with the Pima County Sheriff came on Sept. 23, 2004. But it wasn't for anything he did. The assistant principal at Mountain View High School contacted police to report that Loughner reported being struck with a pin coming out of a pen in the cafeteria.

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Pat Buchanan

Pat Buchanan: Sarah Palin's Use Of Blood Libel Was 'Excellent' (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | January 12, 2011, 2:38PM

Pat Buchanan

Pat Buchanan said Wednesday that Sarah Palin has been a victim of the media in the wake of the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), and she was right to use the phrase "blood libel" in defending herself from charges that her language had anything to do with the mass shooting.

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Sarah Palin

Palin's Use Of 'Blood Libel' Mirrors That In Right-Wing Media

Ryan J. Reilly | January 12, 2011, 1:03PM

Before Sarah Palin posted her Facebook provocation this morning accusing the media of committing "blood libel" for connecting some of her statements to the attempted assassination of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), that phrase was being batted around by the conservative media.

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Anthony Miller

Local Arizona GOPer Resigns: 'I Don't Want To Take A Bullet'

Eric Lach | January 12, 2011, 12:40PM

Anthony Miller

An Arizona Republican Party District Chairman resigned shortly after the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) and 18 others on Saturday. According to The Arizona Republic, Anthony Miller had been subject to verbal attacks and internet postings by apparent Tea Party members, and said he feared for his safety.

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Jared Lee Loughner

Loughner Asked Online Gamers If They Had 'Aggression 24/7'

Ryan J. Reilly | January 12, 2011, 11:05AM

For a 22-year-old high school dropout, some of Jared Lee Loughner's concerns were typical. He had trouble landing a minimum wage job. Girls didn't get him. He fixated on weight lifting.

But other postings allegedly made by Loughner on a private forum associated with the online game Earth Empires under the names Heroin, XTC and Erad were much more disturbing.

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Jared Lee Loughner

Loughner's Former Prof Describes His 'Illogical-Logic' Rant (VIDEO)

Megan Carpentier | January 12, 2011, 9:29AM

Debbie Scheidemantel, the adjunct professor at Pima Community College who called the cops to have Jared Loughner removed from her classroom last year, told The Early Show that when she first heard the description of the suspect in the shootings in Tucson that claimed six lives and critically wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), she thought of Loughner.

Scheidemantel described the events that led to her call to the police and have Loughner removed from her classroom.

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South Carolina

South Carolina Armory Sells Engraved 'You Lie' Gun Part

David Taintor | January 12, 2011, 8:49AM

Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC)

As the debate over the use of violent political rhetoric heats up in the aftermath of the shooting in Arizona that killed six and left Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in critical condition, a South Carolina gun company may find itself in an uncomfortable position.

Corey Hutchins, a reporter for the South Carolina alt weekly Free Times, reports that a South Carolina gun and accessories company is selling semi-automatic rifle components with the words "You Lie" inscribed on them.

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Jared Lee Loughner

Likely Jared Lee Loughner Internet Postings Discuss NASA Conspiracies, Existence Of God

Ryan J. Reilly | January 12, 2011, 8:10AM

Jared Lee Loughner who was tackled and taken into custody at the scene of the Tuscon shooting on January 8, 2011.

Jared Lee Loughner appears to have been a user of a web forum where conspiracy theorists discussed UFO sightings, the existence of God and racism in video games. But even there, he didn't fit in. Other website users appeared to grow frustrated with Loughner and one even plead for him to seek professional help.

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Joe Arpaio

Joe Arpaio Defends Sarah Palin, Says Sheriff Dupnik Too Political (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | January 11, 2011, 10:02PM

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, not exactly known for his bipartisanship, thinks that fellow Arizona Sheriff Clarence Dupnik of Pima County is getting too political in his rhetoric in the wake of the mass shooting over the weekend that killed six people and gravely injured Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ).

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Jared Lee Loughner

Parents Of Alleged Shooter Jared Lee Loughner: 'We Care Deeply About The Victims'

Ryan J. Reilly | January 11, 2011, 5:58PM

Randy and Amy Loughner, the parents of alleged gunman Jared Lee Loughner, released a statement to the media for the first time on Tuesday.

"There are no words that can possibly express how we feel," the Loughner family said in a statement. "We wish that there were, so we could make you feel better."

"We don't understand what happened. It may not make any difference, but we wish we could change the heinous events of Saturday," the family said. "We care deeply about the victims and their families, and we are so very sorry for their loss."

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Sarah Palin

Arizona Lawmaker In Palin's 'Crosshairs' Says Blame Game Is Not Helpful (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | January 11, 2011, 3:40PM

Former Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-AZ)

Arizona Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick, who like Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) was targeted by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, said in an interview Tuesday that "the blame game is not helpful right now."

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Frank Lautenberg

Lautenberg: 'We Don't Have More Madmen, We Have More Guns' (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | January 11, 2011, 1:37PM

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ)

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) said on Tuesday that America's problem isn't that there are more madmen, it's that guns are too readily available to them. In the wake of the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) and the murder of six others in a mass shooting over the weekend is pushing legislation to ban high-capacity gun clips.

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Jared Lee Loughner

Neighbors: Jared Lee Loughner and His Family Were Very Isolated

Ryan J. Reilly | January 11, 2011, 11:02AM

Randy and Amy Loughner, the parents of accused shooter Jared Lee Loughner, haven't said anything publicly since their son allegedly took a Glock 19 with a high capacity clip to an event hosted by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) and killed six people and injured 14, including the congresswoman.

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Gabby Giffords

No Signs Obama Will Shift On Gun Control After Giffords Shooting

Ryan J. Reilly and Melissa Jeltsen | January 11, 2011, 8:37AM

Virtually since the Obama administration took office, the White House has avoided touching the third-rail issue of gun control with a 10-foot pole. So will the mass shooting in Arizona that gravely injured Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) and killed six others (including a federal judge) change their approach?

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2010 Elections

Before Shooting, A Campaign Season Rife With Gun Rhetoric

Rachel Slajda | January 11, 2011, 8:30AM

Sarah Palin's controversial map.

The person who shot Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), a federal judge and 18 other people Saturday may or may not have had a coherent political philosophy or a rational motive. But his actions still come after a campaign season rife with gun imagery and borderline violent rhetoric.

There is, of course, Sarah Palin's map in which targeted districts were marked by crosshairs (spun as "surveyor's symbols" by Palin aides), but there was much, much more over the 2010 campaign:

Target Practice
Robert Lowry, a Republican challenger to Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schulz (D-FL), stopped by a local Republican event in October. The event was at a gun range, and Lowry shot at a human-shaped target that had Wasserman Schulz's initials written next to it. He later said it was a "mistake."

Wasserman Schulz, who defeated Lowry, remembered that incident on Hardball Monday evening.

"Those kinds of actions, words and statements can lead people who are unbalanced to potentially engage and carry out that violence," she said. "It's out of line and we've got to dial it back."

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Jared Lee Loughner

Alleged Giffords Shooter Jared Lee Loughner Held By Federal Judge

Ryan J. Reilly | January 10, 2011, 4:27PM

Jared Lee Loughner, the alleged gunman behind the mass shooting on Saturday that killed six people (including a federal judge) and gravely injured Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), appeared in federal court on Monday with his head shaved and wearing a tan inmate's outfit. Loughner, who the Associated Press said had a cut on his head, was held without bail as a judge called him "a danger to society."

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Frank Lautenberg

Lautenberg Wants Ban On High-Capacity Gun Clip Allegedly Used In Giffords Shooting

Ryan J. Reilly | January 10, 2011, 3:24PM

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ)

In the wake of the mass shooting in Arizona this weekend, Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) plans to introduce legislation prohibiting the manufacture and sale of high-capacity ammunition feeding devices, his office said in a statement to TPM Monday.

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Tucson Shootings

'Political Spin': Conservatives Pile On Pima County Sheriff Dupnik (VIDEO)

Rachel Slajda | January 10, 2011, 2:40PM

Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik

Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik thrust himself into the spotlight in the aftermath of the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) and 19 other people in Arizona on Saturday, decrying the heated political atmosphere and calling for more civility.

"It's not unusual for all public officials to get threats constantly, myself included," he said on Saturday. "That's the sad thing about what's going on in America: pretty soon we're not going to be able to find reasonable, decent people willing to subject themselves to serve in public office."

Dupnik immediately angered some on the right, who took his words to be directed at the tea party and conservatives, as well as Arizonans who took offense to his depiction of Arizona as "a mecca for prejudice and bigotry."

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Jared Lee Loughner

Lawyers For White Supremacist And 'Unabomber' To Represent Jared Lee Loughner

Ryan J. Reilly | January 10, 2011, 1:12PM

The Federal Public Defender's Office on Monday requested that the court appoint Judy Clarke and Mark Fleming to represent Jared Lee Loughner, the suspect allegedly behind the mass shooting on Saturday that killed a federal judge and gravely injured Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ).

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Jared Lee Loughner

Loughner Conviction Could Come Down To Why Judge Was At Giffords Event

Ryan J. Reilly and Melissa Jeltsen | January 10, 2011, 12:05PM

Judge John Roll

Whether Jared Lee Loughner is convicted federally of killing federal judge John McCarthy Roll could come down simply to why he showed up to Saturday's event with Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ).

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