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CNN Sunday Morning

Congresswoman Battles for Life After Shooting

Aired January 09, 2011 - 06:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Mass killings on the streets of Arizona. A congresswoman who faced threats before lies in intensive care. Dead, a federal judge, a 9-year-old girl and four others.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF CLARENCE DUPNIK, PIMA COUNTY, ARIZONA: Congresswoman Giffords was shot once in the head.

I hope that all Americans are saddened and as shocked as we are. And I hope that some of them, or more of them, are as angry as I am.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: We will take you through the details of this brazen attack from the suspect in federal custody to a second person police are now looking for. Also, we'll have more on the victims, especially Congresswoman Gabby Giffords. Why was she targeted?

Also, we're looking to our leaders for more. What's the world from the White House or the new congressional leadership? We'll be hearing from them throughout the morning.

And good morning to you. We're happy you're with us this morning. I'm Carol Costello.

Here is what we know right now: It's 6 a.m. here in the East; 4 a.m. in Tucson, Arizona. But local and federal police are looking for this man: Someone who might have been right there at the supermarket where this deadly shooting played out.

Jared Loughner has been identified by law enforcement as the shooter. It's unclear how many times he fired, but at least one eyewitness told us he heard 15 to 20 shots. Loughner is in federal custody right now.

Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is lying in a hospital bed this morning. She's hanging in there. The sheriff says she was the target in this attack.

Gifford was hit by one bullet, which tore through her brain.

Here's Dr. Richard Carmona, a former U.S. surgeon general, who's on staff at the hospital in Tucson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. RICHARD CARMONA, FMR. SURGEON GENERAL: She has a very severe wound, but he's cautiously optimistic that there is the possibility she could survive. But make no mistake, this is going to take a little while to see how she does after the surgery. She's going to need more surgery. There are lots of complications that occur with problems like this.

And so, you know, she's in our thoughts and our prayers. And we're all hoping for the best for her. But I've been taking care of a lot of people like this before, I - I know how difficult a path it is to recover.

I saw the CT scan, the MRI. I saw what was done. I know the surgery that was done. With guarded optimism, I hope that she will survive. But this a very devastating wound.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Giffords may have been the target, but she was not the only victim. As we told you, six people are dead, many of them just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Twelve others were wounded. They are also waking up in hospital beds this morning, several in critical condition.

So let's get a little more on what we know right now about their condition. CNN's Susan Candiotti is live in Tucson, Arizona, for us this morning.

Susan, you're in front of the hospital. First of all, are there any new updates on Congresswoman Giffords' condition?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are.

She is listed still, actually, in critical condition here at the hospital.

But Carol, first, I'd like to set the scene for you a little bit. It's a very touching scene over my shoulder. Perhaps you can make out the candles that are there as well as photographs of some of the people who were killed in yesterday's mass shooting.

It is a tribute to those who were lost and it is a memorial to those who were lost and a tribute to those who survived.

So in addition to Congresswoman Giffords - again, altogether we have five people who were critically injured or are in critical condition; five people who are in serious condition. Ten of the 12 survivors are being treated at this particular hospital. And of course, among the six people who were lost are the chief judge of - federal judge of Arizona, John Roll, as well 9-year-old Christina Taylor Greene.

And as a matter of fact, one of our local affiliates here had an opportunity to speak with her father, who spoke very emotionally about his young daughter that he lost, that just happened to attend that impromptu town meeting, if you will, outside, with Congresswoman Giffords, yesterday.

And here's what her father said.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

VOICE OF UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She was on 9/11, so she came in on a tragedy. And - and now she's going out on a tragedy. But the nine years in between were - were very special. We're all going to miss Christina. We were - four people, and now we're three. So, all's I can say is that we're going to be strong, strong for each other. And we're going to honor - honor Christina.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: And Carol, we expect to be getting another briefing from the hospital later today.

COSTELLO: And - and when we talk about those other victims in the hospital, do you know anything at all about their injuries? I mean, you said they were in critical condition, but do we know anything more than that?

CANDIOTTI: I'm afraid not. They haven't been very specific about the other injuries, only speaking specifically about the congresswoman at this time. But hopefully, as time goes on, as the morning goes on, when we get that extra briefing, they'll be providing more details about some of the other survivors.

COSTELLO: Is there heavy security around the hospital, Susan?

CANDIOTTI: Well, not that I can tell so much from out here.

They're keeping us, naturally, at a bit of a distance outside the hospital, out front. Quite frankly, we arrived here in the middle of the night, so it's unclear to me, as one goes into the hospital, whether you have free rein to walk in and out, or whether people are being checked. But we'll certainly get that answer and get - get back to you with that.

COSTELLO: And the reason I'm asking you that, Susan, is police are looking for a second man. We don't know if he's a suspect or not, but somehow he knows something about the shooting or he's connected in some way. So I figured maybe there would be extra security there - not only that, but because, you know, a U.S. congresswoman is in the hospital.

Do we know anything more about this - this....

CANDIOTTI: That's right.

COSTELLO: ...second man police want to find?

CANDIOTTI: Well, that's just it - we - we don't know all that much about him, only the description that police have provided us so far. And they describe him as a white mal, in his 40s or 50s, and he was last seen wearing a dark-blue jacket as well as blue jeans. And they - all they will tell us now is that they have some evidence that he was in the area. Well, apparently the evidence is now this security-camera footage that we are now seeing of him, these images.

The question still is, exactly what is his connection, if any, to the suspect in this case, who is 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner? We're trying to find out more about any possible connection here. But that is the man who is of most interest at this time. And as you know, he remains now in federal custody. He had been in the custody of the Sheriff's Office, but now the FBI might be attempting to talk to him.

We know that as of last night, and perhaps in the overnight hours, he's not been cooperating with authorities. He might change his mind. We know that he's invoked his right against self-incrimination. Will that change now that he is talking to the FBI, or is he talking to the FBI? I'm sure they're trying to make an attempt. But if he's already invoked his right not to speak, of course, they can't really press him.

So the question then becomes is, where does the case go from here? How long will it be before he is charged? As far as we know, there are no charges filed against him as yet. But once there is, he would be making a first appearance in federal court.

COSTELLO: Yes, maybe sometime today.

Susan Candiotti, live from Tucson, thank you. We'll get back to you throughout the morning.

Talking about this suspect, Loughner, we know there could have been far more victims in the massacre had his - had he not run out of bullets. Witnesses say Loughner was trying to reload his weapon when he was tackled by bystanders and held down until police arrived.

CNN's Nick Valencia has been combing through the suspect's background and - you know, some of his ramblings, Nick, just sound absolutely crazy.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN NATIONAL DESK EDITOR: Yes, Carol, as details of Loughner slowly start to trickle into CNN, we're revealing a portrait of a very troubled man, a portrait of a very troubled man with anger just stemming from his - his veins.

You see him in - in the MySpace post that he talks about the government; he talks about not being able to trust the government, that it's been brainwashing the people.

I want to quote a little bit here from his MySpace page. He says, "I can't trust the government because of the radifications (ph)." He says, "The government is implying (ph) mind control and brainwash on the people by controlling grammar." Just cobbled-together non-sequitur thoughts, steam-of-conscious rants. A very, very angry man here, Carol. COSTELLO: He seemed to be, in reading some of his posts, he sort of maybe considered himself some kind of philosopher, because he would come up with these - these strange sentences that really made no sense. But it's something like you would learn in philosophy class in college.

VALENCIA: Well, that's interesting; based on his education history, he was a college - high-school dropout. He had trouble in the past in college as well. He had been suspended from Pima County Community College because of incidents in the past with administrators. They had actually suspended him, and based on a mental-health evaluation, that's when they were going to allow him to come back in, but only after he got a mental-health evaluation.

Speaking on that, Pima County sheriff - his name is Clarence Dupnik - he took - talked to reporters yesterday. He spoke a little bit to the mental instability of 22-year-old Jared Loughner.

Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DUPNIK: When you look at unbalanced people, how they are - how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government, the anger, the hatred, the - the bigotry that goes on in this country, is getting to be outrageous. And unfortunately, Arizona, I think has become sort of the capital. We have become the Mecca for prejudice and bigotry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: Now, you see there Jared Loughner, a picture of him courtesy of the Marana Unified School District.

Jared Loughner, slow (ph) details pouring out. We - most of what we've learned about him, Carol, as come from the sheriff and come from these rants on - on MySpace and his YouTube videos. He hasn't spoken, as Susan Candiotti said there in - in her earlier report - he hasn't spoken to authorities. He's in FBI custody and he's not talking.

COSTELLO: Well, in light of what the sheriff said, it's important to - to point out, we don't know why this man went on a shooting rampage...

VALENCIA: Absolutely not.

COSTELLO: ...in Safeway in - we don't know why he targeted congresswoman - we just don't know yet.

VALENCIA: We have no idea why he carried out this mass killing or the attempted assassination.

COSTELLO: Well, the sheriff is saying that the - the vitriol that has been boiling out there in our - in our culture may have had something to do with it.

VALENCIA: That's right.

COSTELLO: He also had - he's also been in trouble with the law, right? He's made threats against the congresswoman before. And - and what else is in his background?

VALECNIA: We don't know specifically if he's made threats against Giffords before. We know that he's made threats.

Police - actually, the Pima County sheriff didn't specify where those threats came. We know that he's also had a troubled past though. As you mentioned, 2007, he was arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia. Those charges were later dismissed. But it does give a string of history in a sense of what Loughner's past was and the type of person we're dealing with.

COSTELLO: But it's interesting, in - in light of, he was able to legally buy a gun....

VALENCIA: Absolutely.

COSTELLO: ....which we're going to continue to explore in the days to come.

VALECNIA: We'll be following this.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Nick.

VALECNIA: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: Coming up, reaction to the shooting from some of those who serve and work on Capitol Hill.

Plus, a somber vigil outside University Medical Center in Tucson, where some of the wounded were taken. We want to remind you of those killed in the tragedy. They include 76-year-old Dori Stoddard; his wife, Mavi (ph), but she did surprise; 9-year-old Christina Greene, who had recently been elected to the student council at her school. She was 9.

Federal Judge John Roll, 63 years old. Dorthy Murray, 76. And Phyllis Scheck, 79.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Congresswoman Gabby Giffords was talking with constituents at an Arizona grocery store when that shooting broke out. She was back in her home district just days after the 112th Congress got under way.

Here's President Obama's reaction shortly after the attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: It's not surprising that today, Gabby was doing what she always does: listening to the hopes and concerns of her neighbors. That is the essence of what our democracy is all about.

That is why this is more than a tragedy for those involved. It is a tragedy for Arizona and a tragedy for our entire country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Republican House Speaker John Boehner says he was horrified by what he called "a senseless attack." He issued a statement saying - and I'm quoting here - "An attack on one who serves is an attack on all who serve. Acts and threats of violence against public officials have no place in our society. Our prayers are with Congresswoman Giffords, her staff, all who were injured and their families. This is a sad day for our country."

CNN congressional correspondent Brianna Keilar joins us now live from Capitol Hill.

And Brianna, what are you hearing from lawmakers about this shooting?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Carol, I think it's just fair to say that members are shocked. They are saddened, obviously. There have been statements just pouring in ever since news of this came in.

I will tell you, there is going to be a - a conference call today at 2 p.m., at least for Democrats, who can be on the call along with their spouses to be updated on exactly what's going on with Congresswoman Giffords.

But you've been in Washington; you've covered the news here. You know how Congress is almost like this pretty small club. I mean, these are a small number of people who are in this situation of being elected officials here in Washington. And when something like this happens, or a tragedy happens, they kind of put the partisanship aside and they really just focus on what's going on.

But the other thing to keep in mind is what Congresswoman Giffords was doing, this constituent outreach. This is something that all members of Congress do. And I think there's this sense of - you know, she was just going about her normal day back in her district. And this is something that so many members of Congress can identify with.

We are going to be hearing, at 8:30 this morning Eastern time, Speaker Boehner is going to be addressing the cameras. He's going to be talking to reporters from Ohio. So I think we're definitely going to be getting some words from him. And at this point, just looking ahead at the week, Carol, as you know, there was going to be a huge vote, a very significant vote in the new Republican-led House of Representatives - a vote to repeal health-care reform. And now, at this point, all legislative action, especially that, including that, has been postponed.

And Congress... COSTELLO: Well, you know, I was going to ask you about that, Brianna. Because, you know, we get those little press releases in our e-mail boxes telling us of these things, that the health-care-repeal bill would not be voted on.

But they didn't call it what its proper name was, and I found that interesting. You know, the "jobs killing" ....

KEILAR: You know what? Yes - yes, I mean, politics here being put aside, obviously. You're not - I mean, I don't think it's really all that surprising that Republicans aren't going - you know, that they don't put that in a press release.

Yes, we've heard discussion of that. I think what you there is just...

COSTELLO: Well, the title of the bill is - what? - the "Jobs- Killing Health-Care Reform Law" - or something like that?

KEILAR: You know, I can't - I can't tell you exactly what the title of the bill is. But I think that, you know, generally speaking, we refer to it as the repeal of the health-care overhaul or health- care reform. And I think it was referred to as something like that by Congressman Cantor, the No. 2 Republican in the House.

The point being, that he was making, is it's just going to be put aside. And I think, yes, when you have a title like that, assuming it is what you said, Carol, obviously, that's a very political statement. And that's being put aside at this point.

COSTELLO: OK. We'll get back to you for more. Brianna Keilar, reporting live from Washington.

Most people who know or work with Congresswoman Giffords simply call her "Gabby." She spent much of her public life in - much of her life, rather, in public service, but is still relatively unknown outside of Arizona.

Still ahead, we'll tell you more about the wounded congresswoman.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It's 19 minutes past the hour. Glad you're with us this morning.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Checking some of the morning's other top stories, former Senator Bob Dole is in the Walter Reed Army Medical Center this morning. The former Republican presidential candidate being treated for a fever that originally popped up earlier this week. Dole's 87 years old. He served in the Senate from 1969 to 1996, when he resigned to run for president.

Happening now in southern Sudan: Voters go to the polls to decide whether to secede or remain united with the northern Khartoum government. This is south Sudan's president casting the first ballot. He calls "a historic moment." It's widely expected the mainly Christian south will choose independence from the Muslim majority north.

Caretakers of the Trans Alaska Pipeline are trying to find a leak that has slowed the rate of oil to a mere trickle. Inspection crews found oil pooling in the basement of a booster-pump building early yesterday. The pipeline passes more than 640,000 barrels of oil daily. Operators say output now is roughly five percent.

In NFL wild-card play, the underdogs have their day. It was fantastic, wasn't it? The Seattle Seahawks beating the reigning Super Bowl champs, the New Orleans Saint; 41-36 was the final score. It is the first time with a losing regular-season record won an NFL playoff game. And they were fired-up because of it.

Last-second heroics helped the New York Jets beat Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts in Saturday's late game. Jets place-kicker Nick Folk nailing a 32-yard field goal as time expired. New York advances; it takes on New England next Sunday in Foxboro.

We're back in two minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Congresswoman Giffords was conducting one of her Congress on Your Corner sessions when the mass shooting broke out. She was representing the area where she was born.

Here's some more background on Gabrielle Giffords: She was born in 1970. She graduated from University High in Tucson and Scripps College. She was elected as a Democrat to the Arizona House in 2000. And she was the youngest woman to be elected to the state Senate in 2002. And then in 2006, she won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. While in office, she's served on the Armed Services Committee, and the Science and Technology Committee.

Giffords' husband is astronaut Mark Kelly. Kelly is set to command the final shuttle mission in April. Giffords' official website proclaims Giffords as one of the most centrist lawmakers in Congress. She was voted one of the top 10 rising power players in the U.S. Congress by the political website RealClearPolitics.

CNN's Ed Henry in Washington now with details on how the White House reacted in the minutes after the shooting.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Carol, White House officials sprung into action as soon as they started getting reports of this unfolding tragedy on Saturday afternoon, so that they could get on top of what is now a sprawling federal investigation, coordinated by the FBI here in Washington.

We're told the president himself was notified Saturday afternoon, about 1:20 p.m. Eastern Time by his principal homeland-security adviser John Brennan. As the White House tried to figure out all of the pieces of this. Then he went down to the White House situation room in the basement of the White House, you can see from this official White House photo, and met with a lot of key advisers, including, it's interesting to note there on the life, Tom Donilon, the national-security adviser, but also incoming White House chief of staff Bill Daley was there. He hasn't even officially taken over as chief of staff, but he was there, helping to brief the president.

It gives you an idea of the magnitude of this, as an array of White House officials tried to get on top of this. And the president came out to the White House - there's a State Dining Room here - to give a statement, and spoke personally about Congresswoman Giffords, someone that he knows very well personally. He said that she's a fighter, that she's as tough as they come, fighting for her life now. And he urged all Americans to come together.

OBAMA: What Americans do at times of tragedy is to come together and support each other. So at this time, I ask all Americans to join me and Michelle in keeping all the victims and their families, including Gabby, in our thoughts and prayers. Those who have been injured, we are rooting for them.

HENRY: Now, the president has also been making a series of phone calls. You can see from this second official White House photo, he was dialing Jan Brewer, the Republican governor of Arizona. He also called Democratic, Republican leaders in Congress.

Jan Brewer is someone that this president has sparred with on immigration reform, for example. But both sides obviously putting politics aside as the president pledged all federal resources to help the state of Arizona deal with this tragedy.

In fact, the president also personally asked the FBI Director Robert Mueller to fly to Arizona to coordinate this whole investigation. He has - has done that. And also, the president made one other very important phone call. We're told he called the congresswoman's husband, Mark Kelly. Initially, he couldn't get through because the NASA astronaut was on his way to Arizona, to the bedside of his wife. But the president, obviously, wanting to reach out, left a message for Mark Kelly.

It gives you an idea of both the personal, but also the official reaction here at the White House, to what is just a massive national tragedy - Carol.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Thank you, Ed.

I'm going to Marco Vicenzino. He's the founder and executive director of the Global Strategy Project. He recently spent 10 days with Congresswoman Giffords at a conference.

Marco, thank you so much for joining us this morning.

MARCO VICENZINO, GLOBAL STRATEGY PROJECT: Good morning. COSTELLO: Tell us about Miss Gifford (sic) as a person. What was she like?

VICENZINO: Personally, extremely pleasant. Extremely - a warm person, an understand person. Someone who was, in my opinion - was a person of great integrity, who always acted upon principle, believed deeply in what she was doing, and deeply committed to public service.

My opinion was someone who - who's - who's - our country needs a lot more people like Miss Giffords. She's part of a new generation of politicians who - who are able to bridge the political gap, go beyond the personal polarization. And hopefully, her recovery will bring her back to public life again.

COSTELLO: She's a fighter. She's - she's struggling right now, but she is alive and we thank God for that.

As you sat back yesterday and watched the news and -- what went through your mind?

VICENZINO: Once again, it was the memories of having spent that sort of week-long conference with her in Europe, the group of people that we were with, her ability to earn everyone's respect and personal admiration, and then that was the personal side. I look as a political analyst, I look at the country and the political debate and the political discourse in our country in recent months, and recent years.

The sad part is that right now, the political environment is extremely charged to a point where the rhetoric is so harsh that it creates an environment where this type of political violence to, according to certain individuals, is permissible. I think this is a case whereby an individual motivated, politically motivated, obviously in an extreme way, took on his own or perhaps with a group of people to take their political views beyond normal standard debate and once again, I think --

COSTELLO: Right. I'm just going to add, we don't know why this man allegedly --

VICENZINO: Sure. Exactly. That was my initial reaction as I was watching the news yesterday. That's sort of my initial reaction.

COSTELLO: You can't help but thing that because of the vitriol that's been going on in our country recently. You can't help but think that, but we just don't know. Thank you so much for joining us this morning.

VICENZINO: Thank you.

COSTELLO: We appreciate it.

It's 31 minutes past the hour. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Welcome back to CNN's breaking news coverage of the mass shooting in Arizona. I'm Carol Costello.

That shooting in Tucson has left six people dead, 12 wounded, among the injured, of course, Congresswoman Gabby Giffords. She was shot in the head at point blank range. We'll have an update on her condition in just a minute.

Let's talk about this man right now, he's someone police are eager to talk to about the shooting. They believe he was there in the Safeway at the time of the attack. This picture comes from the Pima County sheriff's department. They've been leading the investigation. But as of right now, this is the only man in federal custody, the FBI has him. He's Jared Loughner, the main suspect in the mass killing. Witnesses say he was wrestled to the ground just as he was reloading to fire again.

This is what we have on the investigation, at least the latest. As I said one person is in custody. Police also looking for someone else they want to talk to.

CNN's Susan Candiotti live in Tucson, Arizona, for us this morning.

Susan, let's talk about this man, this man that in this surveillance video from the supermarket. Do we know anything more about him other than he's in his 50s?

CANDIOTTI: Well not much, not much about him at all. But throughout the night last night, police kept hinting they had this other man they wanted to speak with, and they said they had some evidence that he might possibly be involved. But they didn't provide any additional detail. Well perhaps part of the evidence is that they saw him on tape in the vicinity. That's purely speculation. We don't know.

But we do know that just within the last hour they released this security camera video. So we're able to take a look at this man. You're right. We know very little except a description of him. He's between 40 and 50 years old, police say, a white man. He is -- was last seen wearing the blue jeans you can see in the video there, as well as a dark blue jacket. But other than that, precisely what his connection is to Loughner, if any, is unclear. And that's why they say they want to speak with him.

COSTELLO: Let's talk a little bit about Loughner, the suspect that's in custody right now. We know he had a troubled background. We've read his crazy rantings on MySpace and on YouTube. He was able to buy a gun. Apparently he bought it legally. Do we know anything about when he bought that gun?

CANDIOTTI: That is all the information that investigators are tracing right now. That investigation likely being done by state authorities, with assistance, of course, from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; looking into the background of this gun. It was purchased legally, we know. Not for sure whether he's the one that purchased it. But we also know this about it. It's a 0.9 millimeter semiautomatic Glock. And when you squeeze the trigger on that, you can run off a lot of rounds, one right after the other. And in this case that weapon held about 30 rounds. Plus, authorities say there was another magazine and as you indicated he apparently was getting ready to reload when he was tackled to the ground.

But not only that, they say -- not only did he have a gun on him, but they found a pocket knife on the suspect as well. A lot of work to be done, for example, forensically. They have to try to match up the bullets to the weapon that was recovered. They want to determine exactly -- we still don't know how many shots he was able to fire. And analyze those bullet wounds so they determine, you know, which shot whom. That's going to be part of the case that undoubtedly is being put together at this time against him.

At this time as you know, Carol, we still don't know whether he's been charged with anything yet, we don't think so.

COSTELLO: We do know he's in federal custody, though, and maybe they're working that out because you have the local authorities, now you have federal officials stepping in. It's a complicated task out there in Arizona. I know you're live at the hospital.

CANDIOTTI: Oh, absolutely. Because he is in federal custody, that's right. Because he is in federal custody, it's likely there will be, naturally, federal charges. And that his first court appearance would probably be, of course, in all likelihood in federal court. So we're, of course, keeping on top of that.

COSTELLO: And I know you're live at the hospital. I just wondered is there any update on the congresswoman's condition, or any other people in the hospital who are wounded in that super market?

CANDIOTTI: Yeah, 12 people, as you said, were shot, 10 of the 12 are at this hospital. The only word that we have from hospital authorities right now is that five are in critical condition, five are in serious condition. Of course congresswoman Giffords is one of the ones who is in critical condition. As we've been told, she was shot at close range, a bullet going straight through her head, through her brain. Although surgeons did work on her for several hours, they are saying that they feel very optimistic so far about her chances of recovery. Everyone, of course, is pulling for her, especially a good friend of hers who spoke with us at CNN earlier this night.

COSTELLO: Yeah. We'll get back to you, Susan. And we'll also talk to Doctor Sanjay Gupta in our next hour about, you know, how Congresswoman Giffords' recovery-what it might look like, what might take place, and how long she might be in the hospital.

We'll get back to you. Susan Candiotti reporting live from Tucson, Arizona.

Among the six people killed in Tucson, Chief Judge John Roll of the U.S. District court for Arizona. He was appointed to the bench in 1991. We'll learn more about him. That's just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COSTELLO: The attempted assassination of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords highlights the security gap many lawmakers face when they're outside the relative safe confines of Capitol Hill. We have one former lawmaker who is all too familiar with that sense of insecurity, former U.S. representative from Ohio, John Boccieri who joins me live by phone.

Thank you so much for joining us this morning. We appreciate it.

JOHN BOCCIERI, FMR. CONGRESSMAN, OHIO: Good morning.

COSTELLO: You lost in the last election, but you were in Congress at the height of the health care debate and you received many threats during that time. Tell us what that was like.

BOCCIERI: Well, it was certainly something that I never dreamed that would happen as a member of Congress when we were debating such an important issue for our country. I would hope our country would appeal to its better senses so we can tone down the heated rhetoric and discuss with civility, a degree of civility, these important concepts and issues.

My heart and soul is aching for the Giffords family and all the victims who have suffered in this tragedy. This is unspeakable.

COSTELLO: It truly is.

Specifically, in your case, though, a man actually went to trial for threatening to burn down your house and he's facing jail time right now. Tell us about that man.

BOCCIERI: Well, I can't speak to where his background and what he's all about, but I know that this came at the heat of the debate over the health care issue. And, you know, intimidation and threats of violence have no, you know, have no realm in our public discourse. We should make sure that we hold folks accountable like that. And prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. So this man will be sentenced in April. And it's my hope that this is a clear message for folks trying to intimidate those who want to serve our nation, and serve the public, that you can't do this through threats, intimidation or violence.

COSTELLO: Did you feel when you were in Congress that you were protected enough from people like this who wanted to do harm to you and your family?

BOCCIERI: You know, I think that our Capitol Hill police do an outstanding job. And we have the support of local law enforcement officials back home who help us. And while I never felt physically threatened at any one time, there are certain public events that could use a degree of more security. I think that you're seeing that step of security now being implemented across the board for our members of Congress.

COSTELLO: I don't know how Congresswoman Giffords could have been protected. She was in that supermarket, she was holding a town meeting, there were people around her, she wanted to talk to them. In your mind, is there anything else that could have been done to better protect her performing that community service?

BOCCIERI: I can tell you this much, that members of Congress are not going to stop visiting with their constituents, and we're not going to stop being present and accessible to the public. You know, I hope that, you know, as we approach the end of this recession and other controversial issues that the Congress will be tackling is that the rhetoric is toned down. Both sides, in my opinion, are guilty of this. And we know that folks are struggling, they're at last end's rope in some instances, and some of this rhetoric could push folks over the top. I don't know there's anything that could have been done more in terms of the type of security that could be provided in instances where we're out in front of the public and being accessible. My hope is that we're better than this as a country.

COSTELLO: There's no evidence right now that the suspected shooter had a political motivation in mind when he opened fire in that supermarket. And there have been many e-mails that I have gotten from lawmakers across the country saying that hey, wait a minute, the political rhetoric in this country might have nothing to do with this.

BOCCIERI: And that's the case. I mean I certainly would wait to pass judgment before we learn all the facts around this case. But, you know, it doesn't take away from the fact that we have, you know, politicians who are using overheated rhetoric, inflamed rhetoric, one such instance occurred with the new speaker of the House. My friend and colleague Steve Driehaus, from Cincinnati, who the speaker said would be a dead man in his district if he voted for the health care reform. We approached Speaker Boehner and said we need to tone this down a little bit. You know folks are really on edge and fighting for their next paycheck and their families are struggling. We don't need this right now. We don't need that type of inflamed rhetoric, and at all levels of government.

COSTELLO: It certainly doesn't help. Congressman Boccieri, thank you for joining us this morning. We appreciate it.

BOCCIERI: Thank you. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families.

COSTELLO: Thank you.

Our coverage continues right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: The federal judge killed in yesterday's shooting was the chief judge for the district of Arizona. Here's a little more about John McCarthy Roll. He was born in Pittsburgh. He worked as a court bailiff early in his career, graduated from the University of Arizona, and attended law school at the University of Arizona and the University of Virginia. He was nominated to the federal court by President George H.W. Bush in '91, an he became chief judge in 2006. Judge Roll leaves behind a wife. He was the father of three, and a grandfather of five. He was 63 years old. We want to get a little more on Judge Roll. John Pelander is a justice of the Arizona supreme court and he joins us by phone from Tucson.

Sir, thank you for joining us this morning.

JOHN PELANDER, JUSTICE, ARIZONA SUPREME COURT: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: This must seem so surreal to you.

PELANDER: It really is. I think I speak for most of us in Tucson, we're still kind of in a state of shock. This has been just a really sad, sobering event for all of us. Certainly in Tucson, but I think it affects the entire state, and the nation as well.

COSTELLO: Judge Roll just happened to be at that supermarket because he was friends with Congresswoman Giffords, right?

PELANDER: Well, you know, I don't know for sure, but what I've heard, and this is somewhat speculation because I haven't received confirmation of this, but from what I understand he was there sort of by happenstance. I think he had gone to mass that morning, as was his routine. He lives in the neighborhood, as we do, too. And apparently he stopped at the grocery store just on his way back home on a Saturday morning to pick up some items. And I'm not sure that he knew that the Giffords event was happening when he stopped there. But once he got there, obviously, he saw it. He knew her, apparently, and was probably just visiting with her when this tragic event happened.

COSTELLO: He went up to say hello. Tell us about Judge Roll. What was he like? And how much will his loss be felt on the court?

PELANDER: John was first of all, he had a sharp mind, great intellect, tremendous legal ability. He had excellent judicial demeanor. Before he became a judge he was a superb attorney, a terrific prosecutor. He was a judge before he went to the Federal District Court, he was a judge for four years on a court that I later served. It was Division II of the Arizona Court of Appeals, state court of appeals. Hew was a terrific appellate judge and then appointed to the U.S. District Court and served there for 20 years, almost 20 years. And was a chief judge for the last four or five years.

So he was a highly respected judge. I would call him a judge's judge. He was respected not only by judges, but attorneys as well. He was very involved in the legal community and the community at large. He really was a pillar of the community.

COSTELLO: I know --

PELANDER: It's a huge loss.

COSTELLO: I know. I feel for his family, too. So tragic. Thank you so much for joining us this morning, Judge. We appreciate it.

PELANDER: You're welcome.

He was a tremendous human being, too. Just a great person, a man of principle, person of faith, rock solid family man, and pillar of the community.

COSTELLO: We pray for his family. Thank you so much.

PELANDER: Thank you.

COSTELLO: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It's 53 minutes past the hour. We want to take a break from our breaking news to talk about developing news on the weather front. There's some serious snow in the forecast for places, well, Bonnie, I guess you could say, not used to snow.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And it's funny, we've already seen snow in Atlanta, for example, on Christmas Day. And it wasn't too much, about an inch, it made for a pretty Christmas.

When you start talking about snow over an inch, in the South, combined with ice, you're looking at a dangerous situation. Because, you know, around here it's not something we're all used to. We have four to six inches of snow in the forecast for parts of Arkansas. You can see these winter storm warnings, and they are warnings, extend all the way eastward into areas of South Carolina. This is a very serious and dangerous situation.

Low pressure is churning over Mexico now and as it works its way to the east, it's pulling into all this warm, moist air coming off the Gulf of Mexico, and the cold air is in place. We had a cold front come in yesterday. It's already frigid enough for snow to stick. And that on top of the cold air as I mentioned, we also are seeing more warmer air kind of mixing in. When you get that mixing you get ice. That's going to make nor a dangerous situation for particularly Monday.

Looking at how much ice we're expecting, this is really incredible. The ice accumulations as we go towards Monday at 3:00, zoom in here, parts of Mississippi and into Louisiana could see a half an inch of ice accumulate. And because the temperatures will stay cold, it's likely to stay around for a couple of days, maybe longer. I think it will warm up as we go towards the end of the week. The ice stretches all the way into Charlotte, North Carolina. So be careful out there. It's going to get very slick and dangerous in the South.

Stay tuned. We have a lot more coming up on CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Information coming in to us about the shooting that happened yesterday outside of that supermarket in Tucson, Arizona. Where Congresswoman Giffords was targeted by a suspect police now have in custody. A witness to that shooting, Joe Zamudio, is on the phone.

Joe, are you there?

JOE ZAMUDIO, EYEWITNESS TO TUCSON SHOOTING SPREE: I'm here.

COSTELLO: Thank you for talking with us. We appreciate it.

Tell me where you were at the time of the shooting?

ZAMUDIO: I was standing at the counter inside the Walgreen's when the shots rang out.

COSTELLO: What did the scene look like?

ZAMUDIO: I ran outside towards the shots and when I rounded the corner, the first thing I saw was the people wrestling with the gunman. Behind that it was just kind of like people laying everywhere and kind of falling and crawling. Kind of realizing you had been shot is a weird thing to go through, I think. The people didn't really know. They were saying what happened? What was that?

And then it started a lot of, ouch, ouch, I'm bleeding! Like this is real. This is real. And then it was just where's the ambulances? It was just like nobody really knew what was going on. Nobody could really come to terms with it for minutes it seemed like. Nobody really kind of realized the massiveness of what happened.

COSTELLO: Well, it is certainly the last thing you would expect.

ZAMUDIO: You know, so many people had been shot. Yeah, it was.

COSTELLO: Tell me, Joe, when you saw these people wrestling the gunman to the ground, how many people were there and what did that look like?

ZAMUDIO: Well, honestly, it scared me. I mean, the -- a woman, you know, a middle-aged woman, maybe elderly woman, was wrestling the next magazine away from the gunman. And that's what really scared me as I realized he was trying to reload his gun. And, you know, I just kind of fell on him, too, like kind of put my weight over him, and made sure the gun was down and out of play and nobody was trying to --

COSTELLO: So, wait a minute. You went over and you also wrestled down the gunman?

ZAMUDIO: No. He was already on the ground. I laid on him and held him down. And made sure the gun was down.

COSTELLO: And then, as everybody was holding this gunman an the ground, how long was it before police came or somebody responded?

ZAMUDIO: I would say like about four minutes from my phone records, three minutes maybe. I mean, I thought -- it seemed like forever, but I think when you're in the moment, your perception of time is off. COSTELLO: So, I'm just -- I just want to like understand the scene. The gunman is down on the ground. And how many people are on top of him holding him down?

ZAMUDIO: There was a gentleman who was wounded on top of the head, I think he got hit with a ricochet or something, bullet grazed the top of his head, and he was -- and he's the real, real hero. He got hit and still grabbed this man who was free at that point and initiated the contact with, you know, the shooter. He grabbed him and then other people were able to grab on and they were able to kind of contain him and pull him down, which was the key because, you know, like I said, the lady grabbed his free hand which had the extra magazine in it and that was preventing him from reloading and keep firing.

COSTELLO: And where was the gun at this time?

ZAMUDIO: The third gentleman had wrestled it free of his hand. Actually, when I -- when I approached the group of people, I was actually, you know, it was a second. So, I really didn't have time to think, and I saw the other gentleman holding the gun and he was kind of like swinging his arm and his emotion of having taken it from the man, I think he was a little off kilter but he was waving it around a little bit. And that's -- when I approached them, I actually grabbed his wrist as he was holding the gun, you know, because I was afraid. I didn't know who he was or why this person was waving a gun around.

And then, he says to me, no, no, it's him, it's him. Just put it on the ground. Put it on the ground. Like I didn't know why he was, you know, just holding the gun in the air. He said to the guy, you know, I'll kill you. He was upset. It was obviously in the moment of the emotions of having wrestled a gun from a gunman, he really didn't know what to do.

COSTELLO: So, as you're sitting there then, when police arrived and took this man into custody, are you thinking to yourself, I can't believe that just happened?

ZAMUDIO: I couldn't even really believe it as I was -- I was laying there and I could see that recently discharged -- it was so surreal. You don't believe what's really happening in front of you. People are really dying. As the police took him away, I looked up and it was just -- it hit me like a ton of bricks al these people that were wounded and all these people's lives were changes and events.

I mean, I'm not even kidding, I barely had time to say one sentence to the girl in the store and it was going on already. It happened in five seconds, like it was so ridiculously fast. Shooting, shooting, down. It was like --

COSTELLO: Well, thanks to you and to the brave people who stopped the gunman from wounding or killing possibly more people.

Joe Zamudio, thank you so much for joining us this morning. We appreciate it.

ZAMUDIO: Thank you.

COSTELLO: I'm Carol Costello at the CNN Center in Atlanta. Thank you for joining us this morning and thanks to our international viewers also tuning in.

Let's get straight to what we know right now. Local and federal police looking for this man, police want to figure out who this man is, they want to talk to him about the shooting that left six people dead and 12 others wounded. We know very little about him other than he's believed to be in his 50s.

Now, this is the man police do have in custody. He's in federal custody right now. Jared Lee Loughner, he's the suspect in the attack. But police are still trying to nail down a motive. Though we have heard some disturbing things from his past, we'll get into those things in just a minute.

But let's talk about the victims now. Congresswoman Gabby Giffords was shot in the head. She's one of the 12 wounded. As we said, six are dead, including a federal judge and a 9-year-old girl.

Here's how one eyewitness described it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. STEVE RAYLE, SHOOTING WINESS (via telephone): I looked up just as the gunman was firing the shot at Congressman Giffords and there was a sense of sort of unreality and, to be honest, I froze for probably a second, just not quite understanding what was going on. He continued to fire sort of rapidly, really at point blank range and the way things were set up, people really had no route to escape.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Just an unbelievable scene. We've heard from more than one eyewitness. This thing went down so fast. Some witnesses said they heard 15 to 20 shots. We have a bit of new information about the suspect in custody.

Let's go live to Tucson now and Susan Candiotti.

Susan, what can you tell us?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, about the latest condition, we know that 10 of the 12 people who were shot are being treated at this hospital. Five of them are said to be in critical condition, five of them are said to be in serious condition. Of course, among those in critical condition is the congresswoman, Gabrielle Giffords.

And we know that in her particular case, they've given us more detail than any of the others. We know that she was shot in the head, according to doctors. The bullet went straight through her brain as a matter of fact, and they performed surgery on her, neurosurgeons did for several hours, and they are saying that they're optimistic about how well she is doing at this time. She is, however, as we indicated in critical condition and still unconscious at this time in the intensive care unit.

It's a very touching scene out here, if you can see over my shoulder. People have come by and left burning candles as well as photographs of some of the people who lost their lives. So, I think it's probably fair to say these candles are lit for those who are still being treated here, as well as in memory of those who lost their lives, Carol.

COSTELLO: Let's talk a little bit about the suspect. I thought for a moment you had new information about him, but as far as we know he's not talking to anyone right at this moment. So, let's talk about this second person that police are looking for. What do we know about him?

CANDIOTTI: Well, not very much because police aren't revealing all that much, other than a description of him. They have released a short time ago, just within the last hour or so, a videotape from the security camera in the area of that Safeway store where you can see him walking around. Now, this is a man they're describing as a white man, between the ages of 40 and 50, and then he was last seen wearing a dark blue jacket and some blue jeans. And so, naturally, they are asking for the public's help to se if anyone knows where he might be.

Precisely what his connection could be to the suspect who is in custody already, the police haven't said. All they're saying is that they think he might possibly have a connection and they wish to talk to this person, to ask him some questions. And that's about all we know about him so far.

But, you know, in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, people were asking, could there have been a second shooter, and authorities were rather mum on the subject other than to say that they wanted to talk to another person. Whether he might be a second shooter, no one -- there were no descriptions by any eyewitnesses that they saw anyone else raising a weapon.

So, at this point, we're left to wonder, Carol.

COSTELLO: Lot of unanswered questions. Susan Candiotti, thanks for being with us this morning, live from Tucson, Arizona. We'll get back to you in the next hour of CNN.

Continuing coverage right after this, including an update on a big storm that's going to hit the South and we'll have a political perspective from Capitol Hill on the shootings yesterday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: As you might expect, there's a lot of reaction at the nation's capital to the shooting incident. So, let's get more on that.

Brianna Keilar is in our Washington bureau. Ed Henry is at the White House.

Ed, let's start from you -- let's start with you. We've heard from the president. Do we expect to hear any more from him?

ED HENRY, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Carol.

New this morning, I spoke to a senior aide to the president and asked whether or not the president would be making any more comments, will he be going to Tucson as we've seen other presidents do after tragedies like this. This aide said, look, we are monitoring this closely, but no decisions have been made about whether he'll give a broader speech to the nation, whether or not he'll actually travel there. Those are, obviously, a lot of things that have to play out as they get more information here at the White House. They've been monitoring the situation, as you can imagine, since yesterday afternoon.

You can see from the official White House photo that they've put out, the president had a meeting in the White House Situation Room yesterday afternoon, Tom Donilon there on the left, his national security adviser, but also Bill Daley, the new chief of staff, he hasn't officially taken over yet, but he was in the building yesterday, got involved in briefing the president. And you saw him in the state dining room.

And what he was basically talking about was in part the personal side, his personal connection to Congresswoman Giffords, saying that look, she's as tough as they come, that he was pulling for her, feeling that she may be able to survive here, but he also made sure to mention all the victims, saying it was time not just for Arizona to come together, but the entire nation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What Americans do at times of tragedy is to come together and support each other. So, at this time, I ask all Americans to join me and Michelle in keeping all the victims and their families, including Gabby, in our thoughts and prayers. Those who have been injured, we are rooting for them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: As you can imagine, the president's been also working the phones, not just getting briefings from various officials, but also making calls himself to congressional leaders in both parties to update them on what the White House knows about the investigation, but also an important phone call to the Republican governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer. She has sparred with his White House on issues like immigration reform, but, obviously, both sides putting politics aside to make sure Arizona gets all the federal help it can, Carol.

COSTELLO: Let's hope so.

Brianna Keilar, I wanted to ask you, too -- House Speaker Boehner is going to, what, he's going speak at 8:30 Eastern this morning. What do you expect he'll say?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, obviously, he's going to be reiterating what we've heard from so many members of Congress, the shock here, the sadness here. As you know, Carol, this is a very small club in a way, Congress is, and so, you have so much -- these members just really being beside themselves learning this news, especially considering that Congresswoman Giffords was just out doing what so many of them do when they're back in their home districts.

They're paying a lot of attention to her condition. This is actually a picture of the congresswoman at the mock swearing-in inside the Capitol on Wednesday there with Speaker Boehner. They're paying very close attention.

Democratic leaders have organized a conference call that's going to take place this afternoon so that members and their spouses can get the very latest on her condition.

And I should also tell you, as we -- one of the things we'll probably hear from Speaker Boehner is that this is a time to be putting politics aside. As you know, Republican leaders have already said the legislative activities that they have planned for this week are going to be set aside, that included a very political vote on the repeal of health care reform, Carol.

COSTELLO: Which is not going to happen now.

Brianna Keilar, Ed Henry, thanks so much.

Another big story we're tracking for you this morning, the South is getting ready for a huge winter storm -- Bonnie.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, Carol, this storm is going to bring not only snow but dangerous and accumulating ice, to places like Alabama where an ice storm warning will go in effect tonight. I'll talk about the ice storm and the heavy snow that's expected for places that don't usually see any snow throughout the month -- that's all coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Let's take a break from our breaking news and talk about something developing that is a big storm.

Bonnie, I flew into Atlanta last night and people were already talking about a big storm that's not supposed to hit until tonight.

SCHNEIDER: That's true. And I've heard the grocery stores are packed as well and with good reason. You know, sometimes people jump the gun on this. But this is going to be a serious and dangerous storm, and not just for Georgia. Wait until you see how far and wide these advisories extend from Dallas all the way to Raleigh.

Much of the worse of the weather will start tonight and continue through Monday. And we're just not talking about heavy snow, five to eight inches or more in Memphis and in Nashville. But look at this -- three to six inches in Atlanta. And then this area in purple right here, this is an ice storm warning for central and northern parts of areas of Alabama. That's where we're going to see measurable ice and dangerous situation.

Remember, when you have ice on the ground, not only can you not get traction on your car but we tend to see a lot of power outages. And I'm anticipating that with the storm system.

So, ice accumulation will be substantial, a half inch all the way from parts of Texas into Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and back through areas of Georgia as well. So, the ice will be on the ground. We're expecting snow and strong winds.

And just to let you know that some areas will see very heavy snow, possibly even 10 inches in areas south of Nashville, just along the border of Mississippi and Alabama, and also some of our computer models are predicting heavy snow for pockets of Arkansas. So, Carol, this is going to be a very dangerous storm, the cold air is here. So, all the snow that fall will stick and it's going to be a tough one going into Monday and dangerous.

We'll keep you updated here.

COSTELLO: We'll batten down the hatches and we'll be ready. Thank you, Bonnie.

SCHNEIDER: Sure.

COSTELLO: It's a question a lot of people ask in the wake of a mass killing like the one yesterday in Tucson. What leads someone to commit such a heinous crime? The local sheriff in Arizona says the intense political climate and lack of discord, or courteous discord, I should say. It could have been motivating factors for the suspect.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF CLARENCE DUPNIK, PIMA COUNTY, ARIZONA: When you look at unbalanced people, how they are -- 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. And unfortunately, Arizona, I think, has become sort of the capital. We have become the Mecca for prejudice and bigotry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Investigators haven't discovered an exact motive for the shooting. Yet, keep that in mind. Sheriff Dupnik says the suspect, Jared Loughner, isn't talking and is invoking his right against self-incrimination. But Sheriff Dupnik's strong reaction did spur our political team to debate the point last night. I want to share some of that with you now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "SITUATION ROOM": Police have not given a possible motive for these mass killings, but the Pima County sheriff, Clarence Dupnik, did place some blame. He suggested, in his word, and I'm quoting him now, "vitriol," that's a direct quote, in politics and the media, inflaming the American public to dangerous levels.

Let's bring in our senior political analyst, Gloria Borger, and our national political correspondent Jessica Yellin. They're both working this story for us.

So, you know, I've covered a lot of these news conferences, Jessica. Normally, the sheriff comes out and gives us the nuts and bolts. This was extraordinary what he heard from this sheriff in Pima County.

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, because he singled out some of the political rhetoric, as you pointed in creating the environment that allowed this instance to happen. Even though as you point out the suspect is not cooperating with investigators. So, we don't know the motive.

President Obama also delivered that message, saying it's partly the political rhetoric that led to this. So, that's why we want to bring up one of the themes burning up on the social media right now, on Twitter and Facebook. There is a lot of talk in particular about Sarah Palin.

And as you might recall, back in March of last year when the health care vote was coming to the floor of the House, and when this was all heating up, Palin tweeted out a message on Twitter saying, "Common sense conservatives don't retreat, instead reload." And she referred folks to her Facebook page. On that Facebook page was a list of Democratic members she was putting in crosshairs and Gabrielle Giffords was one of those in the cross hairs.

Now, Palin has said that she did not mean that literally, it was not meant to be a violent statement. She didn't want anyone to follow through on it. But Gabrielle Giffords was asked about this on television and she said she felt targeted.

This was Gabrielle Giffords in March.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. GABRIELLE GIFFORDS (D), ARIZONA: We're on Sarah Palin's targeted list. But the thing is, that the way she has it depicted as the crosshairs of a gun sight over our district, when people do that, they got to realize there's consequences to that action.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YELLIN: Palin posted a statement on Facebook, saying that, quote, "My sincere condolences are offered to the family of Representative Gabrielle Giffords and other victims of today's tragic shooting in Arizona. On behalf of Todd and my family, we all pray for the victims and for their families and for peace and justice."

And I should point out -- Republican leaders in Washington have said that this is not a partisan issue. This is about violence -- as have some Tea Party groups. But, clearly, this is not a moment to talk about our political rhetoric. BLITZER: It certainly is. But the question is: is there any evidence that the suspected shooter in this particular case was a Sarah Palin fan, read Sarah Palin's Web sites?

YELLIN: Absolutely not.

BLITZER: A member of Facebook, watched her tweets or anything like that?

YELLIN: None at all. And there is no evidence that this was even inspired by rage over health care broadly. So, there is no over- connection at all between Sarah Palin, health care and this victim in any way.

BLITZER: Talk a little bit, Gloria, about how this is going to impact the political environment here in Washington and, indeed, around the country?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: I think the sheriff kind of opened the can of worms and I think that it's got to change the tone in Washington. You know, we all talk about politics, there's nothing wrong with being passionate about your politics. In fact, it's great to be passionate about your politics. That's the tradition in this country.

But we've just been through a couple of really contentious years and town hall meetings at which people threaten members of Congress. There were very heated arguments. There were threats to members of Congress. There was vandalism at members of Congress offices.

There are members now who say, you know what? We're not protected when we go home. And should that worry us? I mean, she was just having a town hall meeting, a small group of people.

And so, I think that we have to have this conversation about tone, as the president said, not to take the passion out of our politics, but to maybe lower the decibel level just a touch as we discuss what we really care about in this country, whether it's health care, whether it's the war or anything else.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: I'm sure the debate will go on and on for days. Coming up next: a special edition of -- a special edition of "SANJAY GUPTA, M.D."