Or a family member.
Yeah, the judge was a friend of the Congresswoman and just dropped by to say “hi.” He was there entirely by coincidence. I doubt the shooter even recognized him.
A little more about Christina Greenhere. Some sources are hyphenating her name (Christina-Taylor) and some aren’t.
her poor parents. i can’t imagine.
she may have wanted to meet the congresswoman because of her student council win.
This is almost certainly him. Erad3. Same arguments and style as his youtube rants.
No, in one of the videos he specifically mentions the lack of “English grammar” of people in District 8. He refers to “English grammar” repeatedly throughout the videos, actually. He’s not just talking about language in general. It’s all totally nuts, but English was definitely a focus.
Thank you, runner pat. I had not thought of that last night, but it is obvious.
If anyone hasn’t read the NY Times article about Loughner, its here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/us/politics/09shooter.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&src=twt&twt=nytimesglobal
It is now been reported by the AP that Loughner legally purchased his gun at a local sporting goods store.
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/national_world&id=7887529
No surprise there – anyone can legally purchase a firearm if they have no black marks on their record. AFAICT, Jared Lee had no felony convictions and (presumably) no history of psychiatric treatment – hence, the Second Amendment applies. (Especially in Arizona.)
Nobody could have predicted or prevented this Black Swan Event. 
The NYT article says he has a criminal record and that his school wanted him to have a mental evaluation.
Yep. Loughner was the proverbial “law-abiding citizen” whose claimed rights the Second Amendment, Second Half Only fundies want to protect.
Did you ever hear about the DC Beltway snipers?
For what it’s worth, the 50yo “person of interest” may be something the media’s playing up for entertainment’s sake, as per their nature. Naturally, the Feds want to locate this guy and determine how he’s connected to Jared Lee – but considering how nearly all lone nutjobs act independently, it’s likely that Guy #2 is entirely unrelated to the event itself. (Kinda like “Man #2” from the OK City bombing – remember him?)
Still…it bears investigation. Somebody did shoot to kill a fucking U.S. Congresswoman, FFS!!!
If you look at the main page of CNN right now, there is a picture of a woman and her daughter at a candlelight vigil for the victims of the shooting. That is my daughter’s best friend and her mother.
This has affected the whole Tucson community.
I’m very lucky in that I literally cannot imagine what this must be like for everyone out there right now. I am so sorry for what’s happened to your community.
But it seems from the various reports that he was never actually *convicted of a felony *(or other offense that would put a disqualifying mark on his record), nor actually placed under treatment. It would be interesting to see if this is confirmed one way or the other.
Horrible, I have relatives who live not more than two blocks away from that store.
I have family connections in Phoenix. That’s as close as I wish to ever get.
Last night, while taking my nightly walk around the block, I passed by a small boy standing on a motor scooter in a main driveway to my apartment complex. He appeared to be crying, and at first I didn’t understand why, or what he was doing there (aside from the obvious fact that standing in a dark driveway is dangerous, you stupid kid!) Eventually, I figured it out – he was crying because of yesterday’s event. Too young to comprehend what happened, except that all the grown-ups around him were extremely upset, and there’s scary stuff on TV where his favorite programs should be.
At the moment, he seemed like an angel. Tears from Heaven = God’s Tears.
I’m glad the boy was there to shed tears for all of us, especially myself – as of this weekend, I’m too fucking numb to feel anything but darkness.
Well he damn well needs to be talked to do a thorough investigation. The gunman was not the kind who was going to keep quiet on the way to a shooting with a gun and three magazines. At minimum he can say what he learned on the way there. This looks like the assassination of Bobby Kennedy to me: find a nut, wind him up and point him in a bad direction.