thank you very much, ma am. i m sure we ll be back in touch with you. i want to turn to david fitz simmons who is with the arizona daily star, a political cartoonist. he is on the scene at safeway. david, are you there? i m pretty shaken, frankly. this is a very surreal dream-like experiences. david, were you there when this happened? i was not. i live nearby. in fact, i would say it s my neighborhood safeway so i sped up here and here i am trapped alive libehind the yellow tape d fire engines and sheriff s vehicles with the press corps. we re on our cell phones and trying to guess what happened because we re waiting for the information officer to hold another informational meeting. and the mood of people there. clearly you are all in a state of shock even though you didn t see it happen, to come up on such a scene must be horrible. yes, indeed it is horrible. i must tell you as a columnist who has covered politics in this
giffords. joining us on the television is david fitzpatrick. david, as a person who is on the scene and obviously a journalist fitzsimmons. excuse me. thank you. you ve made very strong statements here. i should point out none of this has been confirmed. that is correct. we do not know the motivation ever the individual who may have been involved. that s correct. you believe that the atmosphere of politics in the state of arizona has become so tumultuous this was inevitable. so tumultuous and this is a gun-happy state. i myself enjoy guns from time to time. i m not opposed to guns but for this state it has become a fetish. this is an intense gun culture here in arizona, and the politics of the state does tend to be far to the right, even rabid right. so i was amazed that congresswoman giffords survived this last election. it was very close, and she had a
state, it was inevitable from my perspective. why do you say that? because the right in arizona and i m speaking very broadly has been stoking the fires of heated anger and rage successfully in this state. and you know it s just stunning when you consider congresswoman giffords positions on the issues. she is a centrist, a moderate. i don t know who the shooter is, have no idea who the shooter is, but what could possibly motivate an individual to be enraged against or to take down a moderate centrist? to me it just paints a picture of how offthe mark the politics of this state has grown. i just want to david, hold on as i talk with the audience a bit. what we re talking about here is a shooting that has taken place inner arizona, and we know among those who have been killed and cnn has confirmed this, is congresswoman gabrielle
heat. that s as kind as i think i ll be today. it s really tough for me because i knew congresswoman giffords. she is one with individual who held great promise as a blue dog democrat, very intelligent, articulate, informed congresswoman who thought a great deal about the future for arizona. it aets just heartbreaking to me that such an individual would be struck down. of. david fitzsimmons is a political cartoonist and he is one of those who came up on the scene after the shooting occurred. as he has expressed about himself and many other people, there is a state of shock there. cnn confirming of course that congresswoman gabrielle giffords is among those who have been killed. npr reporting perhaps as many as seven people have been killed. and i want to go back to dana bash because, as david brings
detail. usually not, but it s up to the dignitary protection division of the u.s. capitol police that would make that call. but what i m hearing from sources is that there was no threat against her that would merit a protection detail. all right. well, again, you re confirming to us that you re saying you re hearing from authorities there that the suspect or shooter has been apparently taken into custody. is that right? that s correct. that s what i m hearing from law enforcement sources close to the investigation. and that would seem to be reflected by what our eyewitness on the scene, jason pekau i know he was describing what they were searching through vehicles. it didn t sound like the frantic concern there was still a gunman on the loose. jason, you still with us? yes. what is happening now? i ve seen your photographs that are coming in. and thank you. we re seeing that clearly the parking lot has been marked off and i presume we re seeing also the early stag