TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — A mass shooting wounded Tucson 15 years ago. When a storm of gunfire swept through a Tucson area parking lot it left 6 dead, and 13 wounded including then Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.
The curve of the January 8th’s Memorial is designed to represent an embrace—the embrace the community of Tucson gave to all the people affected by that shooting and the hope that gun violence will diminish but 15 years later, that hope is still to be realized.
As a ceremony began in Tucson to remember January 8th, Former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords remembered the day in other ways…with a social media post noting how so many people helped her recover from being shot.
In her video Giffords says, “I learned to talk again one word at a time.” The video shows her in treatment working to say, “My name is Gabby Giffords.”
Giffords as she is now returns to the screen and says, “So many people helped me as I worked hard to recover.”
Thursday, she was back on the floor of the House where she served as a House Member. Before the shooting. There, Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries noted the 15th anniversary of the Tucson shooting as he praised Giffords new work pushing to end gun violence.
He said, “While the challenges to address this crisis may seem insurmountable at times we cannot, and will not give up hope, inspired by the perseverance or our dear leader Congresswoman Giffords.”
The gunman wounded Giffords’ senior staffer Ron Barber that day. He was elected to what had been Giffords’ House seat when she was unable to serve. He says surveillance video showed it took just 19.6 seconds for the gunman to kill six people and wound 13 others.
In the 15 years since January 8th he’s been working to replace anger in politics with civil debate but political anger has grown
“I see too many elected officials who I believe need to grow a spine, stand up and say, No, this is not okay in our country. More and more people are but not nearly enough. The big megaphone that's coming out of the White House really overpowers everything.”
Barber says he’s encouraged by the Arizona Resilience Network he helped create, expanding to other states to build a base against political violence.
Pat Maisch prevented other deaths on January 8th. When two men knocked down the shooter, she was able to grab his extra ammunition and keep him from reloading.
Since then, she’s worked to prevent new gun violence—and to stay determined when there’s a new shooting.
“Gabby Giffords keeps me from giving up. And every time I see one, I think, well, we just have to work harder. We have to keep at it, because that's my mission now.”
