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29 March 2024

Tucson shooting victim arrested

Published
By AFP

A man who was shot in the knee during last week's Tuscon shooting rampage was arrested Saturday after threatening a local conservative leader during an emotional town hall event, ABC News reported.

During taping for a Sunday special on the shooting, witnesses told ABC affiliate KGUN9 News that James Eric Fuller grew agitated when Tucson Tea Party founder Trent Humphries suggested that any conversation about gun control should be put off until after the funerals for all the victims.

Fuller took a photograph of Humphries with a cell phone and said "You're dead," according to two witnesses of the event themed "After the Tragedy: An American Conversation Continued."

Witnesses said Fuller was also among several people who groaned or booed at State Representative Terri Proud, a Republican, when she rose to explain current and proposed gun legislation in Arizona.

Shortly after the town hall ended, law enforcement officials approached Fuller and escorted him from the room. As he was being led off, he shouted "You're all whores!" according to several witnesses interviewed by the ABC affiliate.

The Pima County Sheriff's office told KGUN9 News that authorities charged Fuller with one count of threats and intimidation, and intended to charge him with at least one count of disorderly conduct as well.

ABC will broadcast the event on Sunday during its "This Week" talkshow program.

Six people were killed, including a federal judge and a nine-year-old girl, and 14 were wounded in the burst of violence last Saturday outside a Tucson supermarket, where Democratic Representative Gabrielle Giffords was holding a public event with her constituents.

Giffords, who was left fighting for her life, was earlier removed from a ventilator and is breathing on her own through a tube inserted into her windpipe, doctors said.

Alleged gunman Jared Loughner, a 22-year-old local resident, is in custody.