Details of suspect in Arizona rampage slowly emerge
TUCSON, AZ
One former classmate said the accused gunman, Jared Loughner,
often did his own thing. Another described him as a student who
disrupted class with occasional outbursts.
Neighbors said Loughner wasn't hostile toward anyone but
certainly didn't warm up to anyone, either.
"He was a guy in high school who definitely had his opinions on
stuff and didn't seem to care what people thought of him," said
Grant Wiens, 22, who told The Associated Press he went to high
school and had a class at Pima Community College with Loughner.
Loughner was in custody Saturday after authorities said he
opened fire outside a grocery store as Giffords, a Democrat, met
with voters. The rampage left the congresswoman wounded. Arizona's
chief federal judge, a 9-year-old girl and four others were killed.
Authorities said the accused gunman targeted the three-term
congresswoman, but an exact motivation was not immediately known.
Many questioned whether the nation's polarized political climate
had played a role, even as Loughner's political views remained
unclear late Saturday.
Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik described the gunman as
mentally unstable and said he possibly acted with an accomplice.
Federal law enforcement officials poured over versions of a
MySpace page that belonged to Loughner and over a YouTube video
published weeks ago under an account "Classitup10" and linked to
him. The MySpace page, which was removed within minutes of the
gunman being identified by officials, included a mysterious
"Goodbye friends" message published hours before the shooting and
exhorted his friends to "Please don't be mad at me."
On his MySpace page, Loughner spoke of how he liked to read and
he also wrote repeatedly about literacy, complaining that the rate
was especially low in the congressional district where he lived.
"The majority of people, who reside in District-8 are
illiterate hilarious. I don't control your English grammar
structure, but you control your English grammar structure," he
said.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Wiens also said
Loughner used to speak critically about religion. He also talked
about how he liked to smoke pot.
"He wasn't really too keen on religion it seemed like," Grant
Wiens, 22, told The Associated Press. "I don't know if floating
through life is the right term or whatever, but he was really just
into doing his own thing."
Loughner's MySpace profile indicated he attended and graduated
from school in northwest Tucson and had taken college classes. He
did not say if he was employed.
Tamara Crawley, director of the Marana Unified School District
in Tucson, said Loughner attended Mountain View High School in
Tucson for three years but withdrew after completing his junior
year in 2006. Crawley did not know why Loughner had withdrawn from
Mountain View High and it was not clear if he had transferred to
another school in the area.
Lynda Sorenson said she took a math class with Loughner last
summer at Pima Community College's Northwest campus and told the
Arizona Daily Star he was "obviously very disturbed."
"He disrupted class frequently with nonsensical outbursts,"
she said.
In a Dec. 15 YouTube video, Loughner describes himself as a U.S.
military recruit.
The Army released a statement indicating Loughner was not
accepted.
In October 2007, Loughner was cited in Pima County for
possession of drug paraphernalia, which was dismissed after he
completed a diversion program, according to online records.
A year later he was charged with an unknown "local charge" in
Marana near Tucson. That charge was also dismissed following the
completion of a diversion program in March 2009, the Daily Star
reported.
Ryan Miller, 19, was a sophomore at Mountain View when Loughner
was a senior. He said Loughner was seemed like a normal kid.
"I was in shock," he said, describing his reaction to the
shooting. "I didn't know what possessed someone our age to do
something like this."
AP Source: Gun in Tucson shooting legal
A law enforcement official tells The
Associated Press that the handgun used in a shooting that killed a
federal judge and wounded a U.S. congresswoman in Tucson, Ariz.,
was purchased legally. U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the
head Saturday morning during an event with voters outside a local
grocery store. U.S. District Judge John Roll, and at least five
others, were killed in the attack.
The official, who has been briefed on the investigation, spoke
to the AP on the condition of anonymity because he was not
authorized to discuss details of the case. Officials have
identified the shooter as 22-year-old Jared Loughner of Tucson. He
is in custody. The Washington Post reported late Saturday that
Loughner purchased the gun Nov. 30 from the Sportsman's Warehouse
in Tucson.