What happened to Sen. Mark Kelly's wife? Here's what to know about 2011 Tucson shooting
Sen. Mark Kelly, a retired astronaut, is married to former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, an Arizona native whose promising political career was cut short by an assassination attempt in 2011.
Kelly, a Democrat, is relatively new to politics, having never held public office until four years ago when he was elected to the U.S. Senate at the age of 56 in a special election to fill the seat vacated by the death of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. Kelly is 60.
Giffords, a Democrat who married Kelly in 2007, paved the way for Kelly to embark on his own political career. Kelly had been under consideration as the running mate of Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee.
A Tucson native, Giffords first got into politics in 2001 when she was elected to the Arizona House of Representatives. In 2002, at the age of 32, she was elected to the Arizona Senate. Her career continued on an upward trajectory, and in 2006, she became the third woman in Arizona history elected to the U.S. Congress.
At 10:10 a.m. on Jan. 8, 2011 — a sunny Saturday morning three days after she was sworn into her third term in the U.S. House of Representatives — Giffords was shot in the head while meeting with constituents at a public event outside of a Safeway grocery store northwest of Tucson.
Here are seven things to know about the assassination attempt on Giffords and its aftermath:
What happened in the Gabby Giffords shooting near Tucson?
Six people died in the Jan. 8, 2011, shooting: U.S. District Judge John Roll, who was 63; Gabe Zimmerman, 30, a community-outreach director for Giffords' office; 9-year-old Christina-Taylor Green, who was visiting the event with a family friend; Dorwan Stoddard, 76, who died protecting his wife; Dorothy Morris, a 76-year-old retiree, mother and grandmother; and 79-year-old Phyllis Schneck, a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and Republican who loved Giffords.
During a talk about the shooting at the University of Arizona in December 2011, Kelly called the loss of Christina-Taylor, the youngest victim, "the most tragic thing about this story," the Tucson-based Arizona Daily Star reported.
"Gabby was horribly injured, but she survived," Kelly said.
A doctor called Giffords' survival from near-fatal head injury 'miraculous'
Thirteen people, including Giffords and two of her staff members, were injured in the shooting. Giffords was the most seriously wounded. She was shot through the left side of her head.
The bullet entered her head just above her left eye, stayed in the left hemisphere, did not cross through the brain's geometric center and exited through the back, doctors said. Neurosurgeons performed what is called a decompressive craniectomy, in which part of the skull was removed to give Giffords' swelling brain room to expand without being constricted by bone.
One day after the shooting, Dr. G. Michael Lemole Jr., who was one of the two neurosurgeons who performed Giffords' surgery, called Giffords' condition "miraculous" given the trauma she suffered.
What was the Tucson shooter's motive? He had untreated schizophrenia
Tucson resident Jared Loughner, 22, at the time of the shooting, was restrained by bystanders at the scene and arrested.
After his arrest, Loughner was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. He was later sentenced by a federal judge to life in prison with no eligibility for parole.
During the sentencing, U.S. District Judge Larry A. Burns said Loughner's mental illness did not mean he could have successfully pursued an insanity defense, the Arizona Daily Star reported. Prosecutors had too much evidence that his conduct was "purposeful" and that he appreciated his actions were wrong, according to the Star.
Some victims later speculated that Loughner's undiagnosed mental illness fueled the killings. Had someone in Loughner's life intervened when he was showing symptoms, he might have received involuntary psychiatric treatment that could have prevented the killings, shooting victim and former Giffords aide Ron Barber told the Star after the sentencing.
Barber was elected to replace Giffords in Congress following her resignation in 2012.
Giffords spent months recovering in Houston
Giffords was treated for her gunshot wound at what is now called Banner University Medical Center Tucson.
She was transferred to Houston on Jan. 21, 2011, to begin more than six months of inpatient rehabilitation for her brain injury at The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research (TIRR) Memorial Hermann. The facility is among the top-ranked in the country for rehabilitating brain injuries, and Kelly was living in Houston at the time.
Giffords' progress captured the attention of people across the country and made national headlines for each step of progress she made, including asking for toast with her breakfast just a month after the shooting. Within two months of the shooting she was singing and remembering the words to "American Pie."
Due to his career at NASA and Giffords' career representing Arizona in Congress, they had a long-distance marriage prior to the shooting, with Kelly living in Houston and Giffords in Tucson and Washington D.C. When Giffords completed her rehabilitation in Houston, the couple moved to Giffords' hometown of Tucson.
Kelly retired from the military nine months after his wife was shot
Giffords was all smiles as she attended a ceremony at the White House to honor Kelly's retirement as a U.S. Navy Captain and astronaut on Oct. 11, 2011. In one of the few public appearances she'd made since the shooting, Giffords got up on her own to help present her husband with the Distinguished Flying Cross medal, which he earned for commanding the fourth and final flight on the space shuttle Endeavour in May of that year.
Joe Biden, who was vice president at the time, presided over the ceremony for Kelly. Biden spoke directly to Giffords during the event, calling her an inspiration to thousands of people who suffer from traumatic brain injuries.
Kelly also addressed Giffords during the ceremony.
“Gabby, you remind me every day to deny the acceptance of failure,” Kelly said.
Because of her injuries, Giffords resigned from Congress
Giffords made remarkable progress after being shot in the head, but her injuries were life-altering. The gunshot wound left her struggling with speech, took away a significant portion of her eyesight and left her right arm and right leg mostly paralyzed.
Kelly once joked that Giffords used to say at least 70% of the words in their marriage. But that changed after the shooting.
On Jan. 25, 2012, Giffords made her last appearance as a member of Congress. In a video message, she said she was resigning to focus on her recovery.
“Arizona is my home. Always will be,” Giffords said in the video. “A lot has happened over the past year. We cannot change that. But I know on the issues we fought for, we can change things for the better. Jobs. Border security. Veterans. We can do so much more by working together.”
Hundreds of Giffords' colleagues from both sides of the political aisle gathered on the House floor to say goodbye and pay tribute to her.
When she handed then-House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, her official letter of resignation, he could be seen brushing away tears, Politico reported at the time.
Giffords now works to prevent gun violence
As the leader of a nonprofit called Giffords, the former member of Congress now advocates against gun violence. Her organization says it is "fighting to end the gun lobby’s stranglehold on our political system."
Giffords the organization announced last week it is committing $15 million in ads supporting Democratic candidates and Harris’ presidential candidacy in swing states. Giffords herself has made recent stops for congressional campaigns in Pittsburgh, Detroit and Grand Rapids, Mich.
“She works a lot harder than most people realize,” Emma Brown, the executive director of the Giffords organization, recently told The Arizona Republic. “She keeps up a blistering schedule. … And at the same time, she works extremely hard at recovering from being shot in the head 13 years ago. It’s a daily effort.”
Republic reporter Ronald J. Hansen contributed to this article
Reach health care reporter Stephanie Innes at [email protected] or at 480-313-3775. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @stephanieinnes
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Gabby Giffords nearly died in a mass shooting. Here's what happened