good evening. thank you. thanks to you at home for staying with us for the next hour. the suspect in this weekend s mass shooting in arizona is a young man named jared lee loughner. he was born september 10, 1988. when he was 3 years old, a 35-year-old man barreled his pickup truck through a fast food restaurant in killeen, texas and opened fire on a crowd of people eating lunch and shot and killed 23 people and wounded 20 others. a year and a half later 55-year-old businessman in san francisco walked into an office building around 3:00 in the afternoon, took the elevator up to the 34th floor and shot and killed eight people working at a law office before turning the gun on himself. four and a half years after that two young boys armed with guns, an 11-year-old and 13-year-old, shot and killed four girls and a teacher and wounded ten others at their own middle school in jonesboro, arkansas. the spring after that in littleton, colorado two students at columbine high school sho
franklin roosevelt, shot at a month before his inauguration. the bullet killed the mayor of chicago. 1950, assassins sought out a plot to kill harry truman. one of the president s body guards. jack kennedy killed an assassin. reagan, nearly killed by an assassin saved by the only quick-thinking of a secret service agent who gets him to the hospital in three minutes. huey long, george lincoln rockwell, martin luther king, robert kennedy, howard lowenstein, malcolm x, all killed by gunman. we ve grown up with this stuff, knowing this stuff. we re not like other countries, not in europe, not in africa, not in asia, not in south america, not in canada or in mexico. it s only here. the political assassination has worked its way into the history books and won t get out. given this, why would anyone bring a gun to a political event in this country there is why would anyone want to? why would any political leader think it s just fine do so? for one reason, i can only suppose, to say
become a part of our political process, when the reality of that rhetoric, when actions match the disturbing nature of words, we haven t lost our capacity to be horrified. maybe it helps us to remember to match our rhetoric with reality more often. because the reality of dangerous rhetoric is, i think, even though that speak hyperbole likely, i think all of them tonight would absolutely recoil. i refuse to give in to that feeling of despair. there is light in this situation. i urge everyone, read up about those who were hurt and/or killed in this shooting. you will be comforted by just how much anonymous goodness there really is in the world. you people, you don t even know you have never met are leading lives of real dignity and goodness, and you hear about crazy, but it s rarer than you think. wow. that s it. good morning. welcome to morning joe. it s tuesday, january 11th. with us on set, msnbc contributor, mike barnicle and msnbc and time magazine senior political a
p.m. eastern time. meanwhile, his internet postings are giving us an idea of why he sought to kill. he bought ammunition at a walmart a few weeks ago. but he had been turned away earlier because of his strange behavior. president obama has called for a national moment of silence taking place at 11:00 a.m. eastern time today and flags are flying half-staff at the capitol and other government buildings. we want to give you a look inside the mind of this accused shooter and the chilling 911 calls on saturday. hi, susan. hi, kiran. police are trying to piece together every aspect of what happened before the shooting, during the shooting and after the shooting. they re trying to find a motive. no one still knows exactly what happened. but we are getting a chilling look at some of the inside information and look and some witnesses about what happened that day. hello? hello? 911, there was a shooting at safeway. the calls to 911 paint a picture of the chaos that unfolded whe
whether this shooting will change anything. one big question for so many lawmakers right now, does this act of violence expose dangerous holes in america s gun laws and in security for government officials? i m wolf blitzer. you re in the situation room. captions by vitac www.vitac.com 22-year-old jared loughner now seems fully aware of the heinous charges he faces in the mass shooting in arizona that killed six people and left a united states congresswoman fighting for her life. loughner appearing in an arizona courtroom, just a short while ago. doctors now say representative gabrielle giffords condition has stabilized but still is critical after a bullet store through her brain. president obama says americans are pulling together after the shooting. he led a moment of size today f silence today for the victims. jared loughner had not been talking to police but it appears he broke his silence in court today. cnn s ted rowlandles covered the court appearance in pho