The gunman who cut down 18 people in Arizona, killing a child and a federal judge, and critically injuring a a United States Congresswoman, appears to be a disturbed young man, and perhaps, a right wing radical.
MSNBC has an update about what we know so far about Jared Lee Loughner:
“I can’t trust the current government,” and “I’m a sleepwalker,” Jared Lee Loughner proclaimed in an Internet video weeks before the shooting of a federal judge, congresswoman and others.
Federal sources identified a Jared L. Loughner, 22, of Tucson, as the suspected gunman in the shooting Saturday at a meet-the-constituents meeting in Tucson.
Public records in Arizona showed a Jared L. Loughner, born in September 1988, which would make him 22 years old. He was living on Soledad Avenue in Tucson, about a five-mile drive from the Safeway store where the shooting occurred, in the Foothill Malls area.
The sheriff, without identifying the gunman, said Saturday evening that he has made death threats in the past, but not toward Giffords.
Records from a public records service showed only a minor criminal charge against a Jared L. Loughner with the same date of birth, though such records can be incomplete. The Arizona Republic reported that the charge was for possession of drug paraphernalia. The charge was dismissed in 2008 by the city attorney after Loughner entered a pre-trial diversion program.
Federal law enforcement officials were poring over copies of a MySpace page that belonged to Jared Loughner, as well as YouTube videos published to the Internet weeks ago under an account “Classitup10″ and identifying the author as Jared Lee Loughner. Thusfar there has been no official confirmation that the man who posted the videos is the same man who is suspected in the shooting, and no charges against Loughner have been announced.The videos are not blatantly political, in the sense that they do not mention the congresswoman or federal judge that he’s suspected of shooting, nor any specific legislation. They do complain that too few people in the area speak English — immigration has been a hot-button political issue, particularly in the border state of Arizona, and the federal judge who was killed had handled high-profile cases about immigration, after which he received threats. (The sheriff said Saturday night that it appears the judge was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and the gunman went first for the congresswoman.)
‘I can’t trust the current government’Referring to District 8, the congressional district served by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, Loughner wrote, “The majority of people who reside in District 8 are illiterate — hilarious. I don’t control your English grammar structure.”
And he adds, “I can’t trust the current government because of fabrications. The government is implying mind control and brainwash on the people by controlling grammar.”
Loughner also appeared to obsess over the U.S. currency, which he said should be backed by gold, among other ramblings:
In a rambling, philosophical YouTube video titled “ My Final Thoughts: Jared Lee Loughner,” the author does not appear. There are only words on the screen with background music, more of a slide show than a video. He muses:
“All conscience dreaming at this moment is asleep. Jared Loughner is conscience dreaming at this moment. Thus, Jared Loughner is asleep.”
He describes a loss of property rights by Americans, and ends with, “Terrorist: If I define terrorist then a terrorist is a person who employs terror or terrorism, especially as a political weapon. … If you call me a terrorist, then the argument to call me a terrorist is Ad hominem. You call me a terrorist. Thus, the argument to call me a terrorist is Ad hominem.”
In one of several Youtube videos, the author described inventing a new U.S. currency and complained about the illiteracy rate among people living in Giffords’ congressional district in Arizona.
According to MSNBC, the sheriff says the suspect may not have acted alone.
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