On January 8, 2011,
U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords and eighteen others were shot during a constituent meeting held in a supermarket parking lot in
Casas Adobes, Arizona, in the
Tucson metropolitan area. Six people died, including
federal District Court Chief Judge
John Roll; Gabe Zimmerman, one of Rep. Giffords' staffers; and a nine-year-old girl, Christina-Taylor Green. Giffords was holding the meeting, called "Congress on Your Corner" in the parking lot of a
Safeway store when
Jared Lee Loughner drew a pistol and shot her in the head before proceeding to fire on other people. One additional person was injured in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. News reports identified the target of the attack as Giffords, a
Democrat representing . She was shot
through the head at
point-blank range, and her
medical condition was initially described as "critical".