Federal Criminal Charges Filed Against Jared Loughner

The U.S. Attorney in Arizona has filed two murder, and three attempted murder charges, against Jared Lee Loughner in connected with yesterday’s shooting:

Two counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder have been filed in U.S. District Court against suspected Tucson gunman Jared Loughner, 22, accused of opening fire outside a Safeway Saturday killing six people and wounding 14.

The five counts involve the alleged shootings of five federal employees, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who is in critical condition after a bullet pierced her brain, and the death of U.S. District Judge John Roll, a beloved figure who was just stopping by on his way home from church, officials say.

Investigators said that Loughner, accused of opening fire with a Glock 9mm gun on a crowd, gathered to hear Giffords and tried to reload the weapon that killed six and injured 14, but it failed to reload.

Federal investigators will probe Loughner’s writings on Myspace and other activity on the Internet.

Furthermore, “we have reason to believe he attended a similar event back in 2007 and the specifics will come out in the course of the legal proceedings,” Mueller said.

According to the complaint and affidavit, which are embedded below, Loughner appears to have been planning this for some time:

“On January 8, 2011, a search warrant was executed at 7741 N. Soledad Avenue in Tucson, Arizona, where LOUGHNER resides. Some of the evidence seized from that location included a letter in a safe, addressed to “Mr. Jared Loughney” at 7741 N. Soledad Avenue, from Congresswoman Giffords, on Congressional stationary, dated August 30, 2007, thanking him for attending a “Congress on your Corner” event at the Foothills Mall in Tucson. Also recovered in the safe was an envelope with handwriting on the envelope stating “I planned ahead,” and “My assassination” and the name “Giffords,” along with what appears to be LOUGHNER’s signature.”

Loughner will face charges in state court for the remaining murder and attempted murder counts. The charge related to killing Chief Judge Roll carries with it a potential death sentence.

USA v. Loughner – Criminal Complaint 1-9-2011

FILED UNDER: Law and the Courts, US Politics, , , ,
Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. RGardner says:

    Interesting mixed jurisdiction.

    I’m afraid the courts are going to turn into a bit of a media and political circus, at considerable cost. Definitely eligible for the death penalty under AZ law.