Jared Lee Loughner is scheduled to appear in court today to face charges of attempting to kill US Representative Gabrielle Giffords and murdering US District Judge John Roll in a shooting spree at a Tucson, Arizona, shopping mall that claimed six lives and wounded at least 13 others, federal prosecutors said.
Loughner, 22, is accused of killing Roll and Gabriel Zimmerman, a member of Giffords’s staff and a federal employee, according to a criminal complaint filed yesterday in Phoenix. He is also charged with attempting to murder Giffords and two other members of her staff who are also federal employees, prosecutors said.
“He certainly could face the death penalty,” said Laurie Levenson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles and a former federal prosecutor. “He killed a federal judge. That is a capital crime. It’s a similar kind of case as the Oklahoma City bombing.”
Timothy McVeigh was sentenced to death and executed in 2001 for the 1995 bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City that killed 168 people.
“The US Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona is in the process of drafting an indictment against Loughner for presentation to the grand jury,” the Justice Department said in a statement yesterday announcing the criminal complaint.
Loughner is in custody and scheduled to make his initial court appearance today in federal court in Phoenix.
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Motivation unknown
“We do not yet have all the answers,” FBI Director Robert Mueller told reporters yesterday at a news conference in Tucson. It is “premature” to conclude “what the motivations were of the individual in this particular case,” he said.
Investigators found a 2007 letter from Giffords to Loughner during a search of his home, thanking him for attending a “Congress on your Corner” event at a mall in Tucson, according to a Federal Bureau of Investigation statement filed with the criminal complaint. They also found an envelope with handwriting saying “I planned ahead,” “My assassination” and “Giffords,” according to the statement.
Mueller said there were discussions between the US attorney and the county district attorney about possible further charges in federal or state court.
Bystanders apprehended the suspect after he opened fire on January 8 at a community meeting organised by Giffords outside a supermarket in Tucson. Giffords is in critical condition after being shot in the head. Six people were killed in the attack, including a 9-year-old girl.