Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Giffords Leads Vigil on Anniversary of Attack

Leading the Pledge: Wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) takes part in vigil marking the first anniversary of the mass shooting that nearly killed her. Image by getty images

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) bravely led the pledge of allegiance at a emotional vigil that drew thousands on the first anniversary of the shooting rampage that wounded her and killed six others.

The still-recovering lawmaker needed help from her astronaut husband Mark Kelly to lift her right arm to her heart. But she spoke clearly and forcefully as she recited the pledge at the ceremony on the campus of the University of Arizona.

Bells tolled across Tucson on Sunday at 10:11 a.m., the exact moment that a gunman opened fire on Giffords and others on January 8, 2010.

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords Image by getty images

The congresswoman visited her office on Saturday for the first time since the shooting and unveiled a plaque for slain staffer Gabe Zimmerman, the Arizona Republic reported.

President Obama called Giffords on Sunday “to offer his support” and say that she is in his “daily thoughts and prayers,” the White House said in a statement.

“The president expressed amazement at the courage and determination Rep. Giffords has shown along her incredible road to recovery, calling her an inspiration to his family and Americans across the country,” the statement added.

“She’s making a lot of progress. She’s doing great,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Shultz, a close friend, told the Associated Press. “She still has a long way to go.”

Giffords, Arizona’s first and only Jewish congresswoman, was shot and seriously wounded when gunman Jared Lee Loughner allegedly opened fire at a meet-and-greet event at a strip mall.

She was not expected to survive but has made a remarkable recovery and returned to Capitol Hill last summer to vote to raise the debt ceiling.

Her political future is still up in the air, and Giffords faces a May deadline to file to run for reelection in November.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.