Man Shot in Tucson Rampage Is Arrested at TV Taping

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/16/us/16fuller.html

Man Shot in Tucson Rampage Is Arrested at a TV Taping
By MICHAEL LUO and SAM DOLNICK
Published: January 15, 2011

TUCSON — A victim of the shooting spree here that killed six people and
wounded 13, including Representative Gabrielle Giffords, was arrested
Saturday after he spoke threateningly at a televised forum intended to help
this stricken city heal, the police and witnesses said.

The man, J. Eric Fuller, 63, a military veteran who supports Ms. Giffords,
was involuntarily committed for a 72-hour mental health evaluation, said
Jason Ogan, a spokesman for the Pima County sheriff’s office.

The sheriff's office has forwarded charges against Mr. Fuller of threats and
intimidation, as well as disorderly conduct, both misdemeanors, to the
county attorney's office, Mr. Ogan said.

Mr. Fuller, who was shot in the left knee and back on Jan. 8, was among
several victims, medical personnel and others who attended a special forum
at St. Odilia Catholic Church hosted by Christiane Amanpour to be televised
Sunday on ABC.

State Representative Terri Proud, a Republican, was sitting two rows behind
Mr. Fuller. The topic of gun control came up in the forum, she said, and one
of the speakers made a comment about a bill introduced recently in Arizona
that would allow faculty members on college campuses with concealed weapons
permits to carry guns.

Ms. Proud said she spoke up to clarify the bill’s language. Trent Humphries,
the founder of the Tucson Tea Party, who was sitting one row behind her,
rose to speak and suggested that discussion about gun legislation be
postponed until after the funerals. He started to say that he had also been
affected by the tragedy because a neighbor was a victim.

At that point, Ms. Proud said, Mr. Fuller blurted out to Mr. Humphries,
“You’re dead.”

Mr. Fuller then began to “behave in a very odd manner,” she said. “He was
making inappropriate comments.”

Ms. Proud said that after the forum ended, she went to one of the police
officers providing security at the forum and asked him to file a report
about Mr. Fuller’s remark to Mr. Humphries. The officer told her it was
being investigated.

About five police officers surrounded Mr. Fuller and escorted him out. As he
was leaving, Ms. Proud said, he turned and yelled, “You’re all whores!”

Mr. Fuller was also involved in a confrontation on Jan. 8, shortly before
the attack on Ms. Giffords, which occurred at an event she held for her
constituents outside a Safeway supermarket. He said in a long interview last
week with The New York Times that he had argued there with a man he
described as a former Marine after a heated discussion over politics.
Gabriel Zimmerman, an aide to Ms. Giffords, separated the two.

Mr. Zimmerman was killed in the attack later that morning.

Mr. Fuller spoke dismissively of Republicans during the interview. “They
appeal to simple-minded rednecks,” he said.

He said that he had had trouble sleeping after he was wounded and that he
calmed himself the first night by writing down the Declaration of
Independence, which he had memorized three decades earlier.

In the first days after the attack, his anger seemed especially strong. In
the interview, he repeatedly denounced the “Tea Party crime syndicate,” and
said he placed some of the blame for the shooting on Sarah Palin and other
Republican leaders, saying he believed they had contributed to a toxic
atmosphere.

He said he had expected to see protesters at Ms. Giffords’s event, and had
planned “to shout them down because I can make a lot of noise.”

Speaking of Jared L. Loughner, who is accused of being the gunman, he said,
“Saying anything about him would be a waste of breath. Recognizing his
existence is a waste. I don’t like his face.”

Later in the week, Mr. Fuller visited the Loughner home to apologize to the
parents for calling their son names, according to reporters at the scene.
They said he did not manage to see them.

Mr. Fuller used to drive a limousine, but in recent years, he said, he got
by working various odd jobs, including collecting signatures for political
campaigns.

In an interview with The Arizona Republic, Dr. Laura Nelson, deputy director
of the Division of Behavioral Sciences of the Arizona Department of Health
Services, said that Mr. Fuller’s actions could be a response to the trauma
he suffered in the shooting.

“Grief after what happened here in Tucson last week is a completely normal
reaction, and anger is a very common symptom of grief,” said Dr. Nelson, who
was invited to speak at the forum. “I hope that he’ll get the help that he
needs to get through this very difficult time.”

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