Pain sets in for Arizona victims

Associated Press

TUCSON, Ariz

The harrowing first week is over. Now as the national focus drifts away and a quietness returns to this laid-back college city, the profound pain is settling in as victims of the Jan. 8 shooting spree — and their tight-knit community — enter the toughest part of their healing process.

There are the parents who lost their 9-year-old daughter. A wife who will live with the haunting memory of her husband’s dying moments, filled with her loving whispers after he used his body to shield her from the bullets. A 20-year-old intern for U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords stamped with the mental images of holding her to his chest and trying to stop the bleeding after a bullet passed through her head.

And then there’s the city of Tucson, a picturesque desert community of sun-bronzed university students, retirees and artists that prides itself on being open-minded now linked to a heinous crime.

“I happened to get hit by bullets and all of you, especially those who were there, you got wounded too,” said Giffords’ aide Pam Simon, 63, who was shot twice, as she met with survivors, witnesses and community members.

The months to come will determine the lasting impact of those wounds, not only for the residents of Tucson but the country itself, which has spent a week reflecting on whether a divisive political atmosphere, angry rhetoric or loose gun laws might have intersected with a dangerously mentally ill young man in Tucson.

And what of suspected gunman Jared Loughner’s parents, who have remained secluded in their modest home, issuing only a brief statement expressing sorrow? Questions as to why he fired on the crowd never may be fully answered.

“This was a combat situation that hit people not prepared for combat,” said Dr. Paul Ragan, a Vanderbilt University expert on gunshot victims.

Survivors have found a sense of peace from the community’s overwhelming support.

They also are consoled by the moments of human goodness — the heroic feat of the men who tackled the gunman, the woman who grabbed his empty magazine and the strangers who scampered under the hail of gunfire to help the wounded.

Most uplifting has been the remarkable recovery so far of Giffords, who was upgraded from critical to serious condition Sunday after a procedure to remove her from a ventilator was successful.