The Violence Prevention Program at Arizona Western College will be holding a Vigil on Wednesday, January 19th at 5:30 pm to honor the Tucson shooting victims. The Vigil will take place outside the CTE Building at the AWC Main Campus. Candles will be provided, but since the event is expected to have a large turn-out it is requested that you bring yours to insure that there will be enough.
On the morning of January 8, 2011, Gabrielle Giffords, a United States Representative in Arizona, was holding a constituent meeting called "Congress on Your Corner" at the Safeway store in Casas Adobes near Tucson. Giffords had a table outside the store with 20 to 30 people gathered around her when the gunman drew a 9mm Glock model 19 semi-automatic pistol with a 33-round magazine.
After shooting Giffords in the head the gunman, later identified as Jared Lee Loughner, proceeded to fire randomly at other members of the crowd. When the gunman ran out of ammunition in the first magazine, he dropped the second loaded magazine. Bystander Patricia Maisch grabbed it. Another bystander clubbed the back of the assailant's head with a chair. Loughner was then tackled to the ground by 74-year-old retired colonel Bill Badger, who himself had been shot. Loughner was further subdued by Maisch and bystanders Roger Sulzgeber and Joseph Zamudio.
A friend of Loughner, Bryce Tierney, stated that Loughner held a grudge against Giffords because she failed to answer a question satisfactorily at a similar event on August 25, 2007, where he asked the congresswoman, "How do you know words mean anything?"
Much speculation has risen as a result of this attack because of the mental state of the formerly expelled college student who had accumulated long records of misconduct with both the police department and the college administration. This has brought up heated topics of students rights, National gun laws, freedom of speech, etc.
If a person is reported acting "unstable" at AWC the student is quickly evaluated by a counselor. Although AWC has experienced some students at AWC that have had mental problems, the Violence Prevention Team has provided help for them from outside sources and got them on meds. They are then monitored very closely by all personnel. "The main thing we like to stress," said Dinorah Couvillon, AWC's Violence Protection Specialist, "is to get people to report violent behaviors."
Just after the shooting, Giffords' intern, Daniel Hernandez Jr. applied pressure to the gunshot wound on Giffords' forehead. David and Nancy Bowman, a married doctor and nurse who were shopping in the store, immediately began to attend to nine-year-old Christina-Taylor Green. Badger observed the assailant attempting to discard a small bag containing money and identification, which was recovered by the officers. A black bag containing 9mm ammunition linked to Loughner was also found later in the investigation.
Six people were killed in the attack and thirteen were wounded. The deceased include:
1. Christina-Taylor Green, 9, of Tucson. Green was accompanied to the meeting by neighbor Susan Hileman, one of the wounded. Green was the granddaughter of former major league baseball player Dallas Green.
2. Dorothy "Dot" Morris, 76, a retired secretary from Oro Valley; wife of George, who was wounded.
3. John Roll, 63, chief judge named to the bench by President George H.W. Bush in 1991.
4. Phyllis Schneck, 79, homemaker from Tucson..
5. Dorwan Stoddard, 76, retired construction worker, from a gunshot wound to the head as he stepped in the line of fire to save his wife Mavy, who was also wounded.
6. Gabriel "Gabe" Zimmerman, 30, community outreach director for Giffords, and a member of Giffords' staff since 2006.
Thirteen people were wounded in the attack; Gabrielle Giffords and two other members of her staff were among the surviving gunshot victims.
Congress woman Giffords' condition has recently been updated from critical to serious after they took the breathing tube off of her a few days ago and her husband said she smiled and even rubbed his neck for him.
For more information about the Vigil, please contact Dinorah Couvillon, AWC's Violence Prevention Specialist, at 928-317-7109. AWC to hold vigil for Tucson victims
