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LA Observed contributor Deanne Stillman was outside the University Medical Center in Tucson on Sunday for the outpouring of public support for the six victims killed in Saturday's shooting and for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who remains in intensive care with doctors optimistic about her chances for recovery. Giffords was shot once with a handgun, the bullet entering the left side of her brain from the back and exiting her skull from the front. Sunday updates:
- Nearly half of Giffords’s skull was removed to prevent swelling that could cause more extensive and permanent brain damage. The bone was preserved for later replanting. Giffords has been placed in a medical coma that doctors lift periodically to check on her neurological responses. Brain swelling, lasting damage and infection are her biggest threats now, but "hings are going very well, and we are all very happy at this stage,” Dr. Peter Rhee, the director of medical trauma at the hospital, told news conference. NYT
- Christina Green, the 9-year-old who died in the shooting, is the daughter of Dodgers scout John Green. LAT
- Suspect Jared Lee Loughner, 22, was formally charged with two federal counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of U.S. District Judge John M. Roll and an aide to Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, and three counts of attempted murder. Authorities said he plotted the attack for weeks. The gunman fired 31 bullets and hit at least 20 people. He was trying to reload when onlookers subdued him. LAT
Photos by Deanne Stillman