A note written by Jared Lee Loughner ahead of
his shooting rampage in Tucson appears to show
that he made careful preparations to assassinate
Gabrielle Giffords, the congresswoman gravely
wounded in the attack that also killed six other
people.
The existence of the note is revealed in court
papers filed after Loughner, 22, was charged on
Sunday with murder and attempted
assassination. The FBI document says that
Loughner wrote on an envelope the words "I
planned ahead", "My assassination" and
"Giffords". He then signed the note.
The envelope was kept in a safe at Loughner's
home alongside a letter from Giffords in 2007
thanking him for attending an earlier open air
constituency meeting of the kind he attacked on
Saturday.
The court document also reveals that Loughner
bought the semi-automatic Glock pistol six weeks
ago.
Giffords, 40, is in a critical condition after being
shot in the head at close range. Loughner is
expected to appear in court later today as the FBI
continues to try to establish a motive for the
attack.
The FBI director, Robert Mueller, who travelled to
Tucson to take charge of the investigation, said
that one focus of the inquiry is whether far-right
organisations and websites played a role.
"The ubiquitous nature of the internet means that
not only threats, but hate speech and other
insightful speech is much more readily available
to individuals than quite clearly it was eight or 10
or 15 years ago," he said.
Investigators are exploring suspected links
between Loughner and an online publication
known for its strongly anti-immigrant stance,
American Renaissance. It has denied any links to
the accused killer.
The Southern Poverty Law Centre, one of the
US's leading trackers of hate crimes, said there
are signs in some of Loughner's writings of far-
right influence. Mark Potok, the director of
research on hate groups at the centre, drew
attention to Loughner's online ramblings that
reject the US currency.
"At one point, Loughner refers disparagingly to
'currency that's not backed by gold or silver'. The
idea that silver and gold are the only
'constitutional' money is widespread in the anti-
government 'Patriot' movement that produced so
much violence in the 1990s," he said.
Potok said the Patriot movement believes that
paper money issued by the government is not
legal tender. He said there were also clues to
Loughner's thinking in his rambling internet
postings accusing the government of "mind
control on the people by controlling grammar".
Potok says that fits with the theory of a Patriot
conspiracy theorist who claims that the
government uses grammar to "enslave"
Americans.
Other organisations monitoring extremist groups
have noted that Loughner spoke despairingly of a
"second American constitution", a reference used
by some extreme rightwingers to post-civil war
constitutional amendments that ended slavery
and gave them citizenship.
"One thing that seems clear is that Giffords, who
was terribly wounded but survived, was the
nearest and most obvious representative of 'the
government' that Loughner could find. Another is
that he likely absorbed some of his anger from
the vitriolic political atmosphere in the United
States in general and Arizona in particular," said
Potok.
Acquaintances of Loughner have related hearing
him rant about issues such as the national
currency and language control.
Lynda Sorenson, 52, who attended a community
college algebra class with Loughner last year,
wrote emails to friends describing him causing
disruption and expressing fears that he might be
dangerous.
"We do have one student in the class who was
disruptive today, I'm not certain yet if he was on
drugs (as one person surmised) or disturbed. He
scares me a bit. The teacher tried to throw him
out and he refused to go, so I talked to the
teacher afterward. Hopefully he will be out of
class very soon, and not come back with an
automatic weapon," Sorenson wrote on 1 June.
A fortnight later, Sorenson said of Loughner: "We
have a mentally unstable person in the class that
scares the living crap out of me. He is one of
those whose picture you see on the news, after
he has come into class with an automatic
weapon. Everyone interviewed would say, Yeah,
he was in my math class and he was really
weird. I sit by the door with my purse handy. If
you see it on the news one night, know that I got
out fast …"
Loughner was later asked to leave the class.
Giffords's doctors say her chances of survival are
good but have not said how complete her
recovery will be. One of her surgeons, Dr Peter
Rhee, has experience as a military doctor in
Afghanistan and Iraq.
"I never thought I would experience something
like this in my own backyard," he said.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/10/jared-lee-loughner-gabrielle-giffords
his shooting rampage in Tucson appears to show
that he made careful preparations to assassinate
Gabrielle Giffords, the congresswoman gravely
wounded in the attack that also killed six other
people.
The existence of the note is revealed in court
papers filed after Loughner, 22, was charged on
Sunday with murder and attempted
assassination. The FBI document says that
Loughner wrote on an envelope the words "I
planned ahead", "My assassination" and
"Giffords". He then signed the note.
The envelope was kept in a safe at Loughner's
home alongside a letter from Giffords in 2007
thanking him for attending an earlier open air
constituency meeting of the kind he attacked on
Saturday.
The court document also reveals that Loughner
bought the semi-automatic Glock pistol six weeks
ago.
Giffords, 40, is in a critical condition after being
shot in the head at close range. Loughner is
expected to appear in court later today as the FBI
continues to try to establish a motive for the
attack.
The FBI director, Robert Mueller, who travelled to
Tucson to take charge of the investigation, said
that one focus of the inquiry is whether far-right
organisations and websites played a role.
"The ubiquitous nature of the internet means that
not only threats, but hate speech and other
insightful speech is much more readily available
to individuals than quite clearly it was eight or 10
or 15 years ago," he said.
Investigators are exploring suspected links
between Loughner and an online publication
known for its strongly anti-immigrant stance,
American Renaissance. It has denied any links to
the accused killer.
The Southern Poverty Law Centre, one of the
US's leading trackers of hate crimes, said there
are signs in some of Loughner's writings of far-
right influence. Mark Potok, the director of
research on hate groups at the centre, drew
attention to Loughner's online ramblings that
reject the US currency.
"At one point, Loughner refers disparagingly to
'currency that's not backed by gold or silver'. The
idea that silver and gold are the only
'constitutional' money is widespread in the anti-
government 'Patriot' movement that produced so
much violence in the 1990s," he said.
Potok said the Patriot movement believes that
paper money issued by the government is not
legal tender. He said there were also clues to
Loughner's thinking in his rambling internet
postings accusing the government of "mind
control on the people by controlling grammar".
Potok says that fits with the theory of a Patriot
conspiracy theorist who claims that the
government uses grammar to "enslave"
Americans.
Other organisations monitoring extremist groups
have noted that Loughner spoke despairingly of a
"second American constitution", a reference used
by some extreme rightwingers to post-civil war
constitutional amendments that ended slavery
and gave them citizenship.
"One thing that seems clear is that Giffords, who
was terribly wounded but survived, was the
nearest and most obvious representative of 'the
government' that Loughner could find. Another is
that he likely absorbed some of his anger from
the vitriolic political atmosphere in the United
States in general and Arizona in particular," said
Potok.
Acquaintances of Loughner have related hearing
him rant about issues such as the national
currency and language control.
Lynda Sorenson, 52, who attended a community
college algebra class with Loughner last year,
wrote emails to friends describing him causing
disruption and expressing fears that he might be
dangerous.
"We do have one student in the class who was
disruptive today, I'm not certain yet if he was on
drugs (as one person surmised) or disturbed. He
scares me a bit. The teacher tried to throw him
out and he refused to go, so I talked to the
teacher afterward. Hopefully he will be out of
class very soon, and not come back with an
automatic weapon," Sorenson wrote on 1 June.
A fortnight later, Sorenson said of Loughner: "We
have a mentally unstable person in the class that
scares the living crap out of me. He is one of
those whose picture you see on the news, after
he has come into class with an automatic
weapon. Everyone interviewed would say, Yeah,
he was in my math class and he was really
weird. I sit by the door with my purse handy. If
you see it on the news one night, know that I got
out fast …"
Loughner was later asked to leave the class.
Giffords's doctors say her chances of survival are
good but have not said how complete her
recovery will be. One of her surgeons, Dr Peter
Rhee, has experience as a military doctor in
Afghanistan and Iraq.
"I never thought I would experience something
like this in my own backyard," he said.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/10/jared-lee-loughner-gabrielle-giffords
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