Tucson dedicates memorial on 10th anniversary of mass shooting

PHOENIX – Former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords said a mass shooting that nearly took her life 10 years ago Friday changed her and Tucson but didn’t break her or the city.

Tucson honored the victims and survivors at the dedication of the memorial as the city marked the anniversary of the shooting that left six dead and 13 injured.

“Tucson never stops fighting. We move ahead together,” Giffords wrote in a letter on social media. “Today and every day, my heart is with you.”

Former U.S. Rep. Ron Barber, who was a staffer for Giffords and was shot in the leg that day, opened the ceremony at the site near downtown.

A bell rang 19 times starting at 10:10 a.m, the moment the first shots were fired at a constituent event Giffords was hosting in front of a grocery store.

Former US Congressman Ron Barber, a victim of the Jan. 8, 2011, tragedy, commemorates the 10th anniversary of the shooting and the completion of the memorial to that fateful day and our community’s response. pic.twitter.com/Ayvu6BEZS0

— Official Pima County (@pimaarizona) January 8, 2021

Each clang of the bell represented the name of a victim. Among the dead was 9-year-old Christina-Taylor Green and U.S. District Judge John Roll.

Gunman Jared Loughner was sentenced to life plus 140 years and is at the Federal Medical Center in Rochester, Minnesota.

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