Giffords marks anniversary of shooting

2012-01-09 10:57

Tucson, Arizona - Bells tolled, girls in white dresses danced and Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords led a recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance on Sunday, one year after a shooting spree that killed six people a and left her gravely wounded.

Giffords, still recuperating from the head wound she suffered in the shooting, topped off a day-long series of anniversary tributes and remembrances by attending a candlelight vigil with her husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly.

The Arizona Democrat drew rousing applause and cheers from several thousand people gathered on the grassy central mall of the University of Arizona campus, as she slowly ascended the stairs of a stage, turned and waved to the crowd.

Wearing a red scarf, Giffords lead the assembly in a recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in a clear, strong voice, adding a forceful emphasis to the last few words, "with liberty and justice for all".

19 people shot

Kelly stood beside his wife, helping to place and hold her right hand, weakened from paralysis, over her heart as she spoke. The crowd erupted again in cheers when she finished.

Her appearance came a day after Giffords paid a surprise visit to the Tucson supermarket where she had been gunned down by a pistol-toting assailant who opened fire on a crowd gathered for a "Congress on Your Corner" constituents meeting on January 8 2011.

Nineteen people were struck by gunfire and six of them died, including a 9-year-old girl, a Giffords aide and a federal judge.

The accused gunman, Jared Loughner, a 23-year-old college dropout with a history of mental illness, is charged with 49 offenses stemming from the shooting rampage, including first-degree murder and the attempted assassination of Giffords.

Loughner, who was arrested at the scene of the shooting, pleaded not guilty to the charges against him but was later confined to the psychiatric ward of a prison hospital after he was declared incompetent to stand trial.

Pat Maisch, an onlooker who wrenched a clip of bullets from the assailant's hand after he was tackled, was one of numerous speakers addressing more than 1 000 people who filled a university auditorium for 90 minutes to hear reflections honouring those killed and wounded in the attack.

She called the people present in the grocery store parking lot that day her "new extended family", recounting how shoppers and other bystanders immediately rushed to render first aid, calm shocked victims and comfort the wounded until medical personnel arrived.

"These are our first, first responders - ordinary citizens," she said.

Bells mark moment of bloodshed

The official anniversary memorials began with the citywide ringing of bells at 10:11 local time on Sunday, the exact moment that the shooting erupted one year ago.

Several hundred congregants, including survivors and Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, later gathered for a mid-day interfaith service at Tucson's St Augustine Cathedral, presided over by Catholic priests, a rabbi and Buddhist monks.

A Navajo flutist performed and a group of young girls and teens dressed in white danced through the cathedral.

"It was a beautiful service," survivor Ron Barber, Giffords' district director, said afterward, as he leaned on a cane.

"The dancing, the singing, the readings, they were kind of what the community was about, which is people all coming together in unity, compassion and love."

Services ‘therapeutic’

Later at the university campus, Barber recounted how bystander Dorwan Stoddard was killed while shielding his wife, Mavanell, with his own body.

"She told me she saw a smile on his face as he lay dying, and she says this was a smile of love for her," Barber said.

Barber suffered wounds to his face and thigh in the shooting. Among those joining him at the cathedral was Daniel Hernandez Jr, the congressional intern credited with applying first aid that saved Giffords' life.

Gary Huckleberry, whose daughter was traumatised by having witnessed the shooting, emerged from an earlier service at St Philip's in the Hills, an Episcopal parish near the scene of the rampage, saying he found the remembrances therapeutic.

"A lot of us have come a long way since that date a year ago. For some people it will take much more time to get over it, but having this service ... was healing," he said.

- Reuters