Re: Man Shot in Tucson Rampage Is Arrested at TV Taping

So much for the calls for civility.  That’s ok, they will blame this on Palin
too…
 
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf
Of Bruce Geerdes
Sent: Monday, January 17, 2011 5:45 AM
To: DADL (off topic)
Subject: [DADL-OT] 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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