AP: Arizona Rep. Giffords shot, 6 killed in rampage

A terribly tragic shooting occurred early Saturday afternoon that shook the country. It happened in Tucson, Arizona. I was looking for the story, and my google search found this one for me, where FoxNews.com had picked up this Associated Press story.

Before I tell you what I thought of this news article, I do want to pass on my condolences to all of the families that lost a loved one, or that have somebody fighting for life in the hospital. It was a horrible and senseless act of violence.

But here is what really bothered me about this story, and the way it was written. Just for starters, they spelled the name of the alleged shooter both as Jared Laugher and Jared Loughner, and one time they did that in the same paragraph:

The suspect's exact motivation was not clear, but a former classmate described Laugher as a pot-smoking loner who had rambling beliefs about the world. Federal law enforcement officials were poring over versions of a MySpace page that belonged to Jared Loughner and over a YouTube video published weeks ago...

But, if that was not bad enough - clearly the editor dropped the ball on that - the story goes on and on about vitriolic political rhetoric and violence against politicians and lawyers. It was what Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said that seemed so creepy. He was really pushing the vitriol and violence thing, and you know who he was trying to blame from this statement: "When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government." Am I out of line to guess that when he said "out of certain mouths," he was either talking about certain conservative talk radio hosts, or possibly even Sarah Palin? Or maybe he is still upset about Arizona's SB 1070, Gov. Jan Brewer's immigration legislation. Sure, Sheriff, way to spread that vitriol.

So, once again, before all the facts are in, people - or so-called journalists - are trying to blame conservative talk radio for the violent act in Tucson. However, from what we read in this column about the alleged shooter, Jared What-Ever-His-Last-Name-Is, tends to fit the profile of an anarchist:

High school classmate Grant Wiens, 22, said Loughner seemed to be "floating through life" and "doing his own thing."

"Sometimes religion was brought up or drugs. He smoked pot, I don't know how regularly. And he wasn't too keen on religion from what I could tell," Wiens said.

I'll guarantee you that as more facts come out about the gunman, there will be no doubt that he is not a Conservative Right-wing Christian. I'm just sayin'....


UPDATE:
January 9, 2010 at 23:45 CST

Here is the complete video of the statement by Sheriff Clarence Dupnik:

Video provided by Attention101 on January 09, 2011

Furthermore, from a story on the Christian Science Monitor, we have this:

A possible link between Jared Lee Loughner, the primary suspect in the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, and American Renaissance, the publication of an anti-immigration group, offers potential new insights into what may have caused the 22-year-old Arizonan to carry out the attack, which killed six people and wounded more than a dozen outside a Tucson, Ariz. stripmall on Saturday.

The CSMonitor story continues on to say:

American Renaissance is the publication of the The New Century Foundation, described by the Anti-Defamation League as a "self-styled think tank." The ADL, on its website, calls American Renaissance a "white supremacist journal and companion Website" that "promotes pseudoscientific studies that attempt to demonstrate the intellectual and cultural superiority of whites and publishes articles on the supposed decline of American society because of integrationist social policies."

It turns out that my hunches were correct! And we can say, Jared Lee Loughner isn't your typical American, and he's definitely not a Tea-partier, that would turn to violence because of the "vitriolic political rhetoric." 

Therefor, my belief is that Sheriff Clarence Dupnik may just be your typical liberal!

RELATED STORY:
The Sheriff's Vitriol ~ By John Kubicek


AP: Arizona Rep. Giffords shot, 6 killed in rampage

FoxNews.com

Published January 08, 2011 | Associated Press


Associated Press Writers Pauline Arrillaga in Tucson, Jacques Billeaud, Bob Christie and Paul Davenport in Phoenix, and Espo, Matt Apuzzo, Eileen Sullivan, Adam Goldman and Charles Babington in Washington contributed to this report.

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ)

TUCSON, Ariz. – Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona was shot in the head Saturday by a gunman who opened fire outside a grocery store during a meeting with voters, killing a federal judge and five others in a rampage that rattled the country and left Americans questioning whether divisive politics had pushed the suspect over the edge.

Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said Giffords was the target of a gunman whom he described as mentally unstable and possibly acting along with an accomplice. He said Giffords was among 13 people wounded in the melee that killed six people, including Arizona's chief federal judge, a 9-year-old girl and an aide for the Democratic lawmaker. He said the rampage ended only after two people tackled the gunman.

Sheriff Clarence Dupnik

The sheriff pointed to the vitriolic political rhetoric that has consumed the country as he denounced the shooting that claimed several of his friends as victims, including U.S. District Judge John Roll. The judge celebrated Mass on Saturday morning like he does every day before stopping by to say hello to his good friend Giffords.

"When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government. The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous," the sheriff said. "And unfortunately, Arizona I think has become the capital. We have become the mecca for prejudice and bigotry."  [Emphasis my own]

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