Second person sought in Tucson massacre
TUCSON, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, speaking about an Arizona shooting that killed six people, said "no act" will deter Congress from doing its job.
Boehner's comments in Ohio Sunday were in response to the shooting rampage in Tucson, Ariz., that left Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., fighting for her life, USA Today reported.
The dead include a nine-year-old girl, and U.S. District Judge John Roll.
They were killed Saturday when a 22-year-old Tucson man, Jared Lee Loughner, fired into a crowd at a meet-and-greet event held outside a supermarket.
Loughner was in custody and authorities said they are looking for a second person in connection with the shooting spree that also left 13 people wounded.
"An attack on one who serves is an attack on all who serve," Boehner said. Boehner said public service is a "high honor," but the "tragic events remind us" that it "comes with a risk."
"This inhuman act should not and will not deter us from our calling to represent our constituents," Boehner said. "... No act, no matter how heinous, must be allowed to stop us from our duty."
Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said authorities have pictures of a second person of interest in the shootings, the Los Angeles Times reported.
"There is some reason to believe he came to this location with another individual," Dupnik said. "And there's reason to believe the other individual in some way might be involved. We have an individual that we are actively in pursuit of."
The gunman still had bullets when subdued by two people in the crowd and "probably would have shot other people had he not been tackled," the sheriff said.
Mark Kimble, a member of Giffords' staff in Tucson, said the congresswoman was responding to some commands from doctors following surgery to save her life, the Times reported.
"The next three days are going to be very critical as far as swelling of the brain. And that's about all we know right now. They're very optimistic though," Kimble said.
The local sheriff lamented what he sees as the caustic effect the nasty tone of the rhetoric from some quarters has had on society.
"When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government, the anger, the hatred, the bigotry … it is getting to be outrageous," Dupnik said. "And unfortunately, Arizona, I think, has become sort of the capital. We have become the mecca for prejudice and bigotry."
The Times said Loughner had Internet postings that included rants about his dissatisfaction with the government, and listed Hitler's "Mein Kampf" and Marx's "The Communist Manifesto" among his favorite books.
Forensic psychiatrist Mark Kalish, a clinical assistant professor at the University of California, San Diego, told the Times one video Loughner posted gave indications of mental illness.
"It's got these paranoid elements," he said. "He probably suffers from schizophrenia. He's very nihilistic. It's delusional. There's a conspiratorial flavor to it. It is nonsensical, but it's psychotic.
"My guess is he's probably a loner, and he has this bizarre delusion and that the congressperson was involved -- either specifically or in general -- because she's part of the government. It's probable that she just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and it had nothing to do with her personally, other than she just happened to be a representative of the government."
Judge John Roll among Arizona victims
UCSON, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- The chief U.S. judge in Arizona, John Roll, was one of the six people killed in a weekend shooting spree that injured Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson, Ariz.
Roll, 64, died of gunshot wounds Saturday outside a Safeway supermarket when a 22-year-old man opened fire on the congresswoman and killed six people and injured 13, The New York Times reported. Roll, who was provided protection by the U.S. Marshals Service after death threats during a 2009 case involving Mexicans suing an Arizona ranches for $32 million, had attended mass at a church nearby right before the shootings.
Chief U.S. Justice John Roberts issued a statement after the shootings, praising Roll for his service.
"We in the judiciary have suffered the terrible loss of one of our own," the statement said. "Judge John Roll was a wise jurist who selflessly served Arizona and the nation with great distinction."
President Barack Obama issued a statement describing Roll as a man "who has served America's legal system for almost 40 years," the Times reported.
Roll was chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1991.
He is survived by his wife, Maureen, three sons and five grandchildren.
Two Baltimore officers shot, one dies
BALTIMORE, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- One Baltimore police officer was shot and killed and another wounded when gunfire erupted outside a club near downtown Baltimore, officials said Sunday.
The incident happened early Sunday morning when police were called to break up fights and control a crowd outside the Select Lounge, The Baltimore Sun reported.
"There was an altercation that took place very near the club and some officers worked to intercede in that fight, at which time some gunshots were discharged," said Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld said. "Several officers fired multiple shots."
Investigators were piecing together a time line of what happened, but an 8-year veteran of the force was killed. The officers' names were not disclosed.
"We're a few hours into this whole ordeal, and we have scores of detectives working on the case, processing evidence, interviewing witnesses," Bealefeld said. "We have a ton of work to do to put together the facts of what happened."
Dozens of witnesses were taken to the homicide unit for interviews, the report said.
"What we need to figure out is what sparked the shooting," said Anthony Guglielmi, a police spokesman. "Was there a weapon drawn by a civilian? Was the officer's weapon taken? We've got to put together a timeline and figure out what happened."
Leak reduces oil flowing in pipeline
PRUDHOE BAY, Alaska, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- A leak in the Trans Alaska pipeline has reduced flow by 95 percent, officials said.
The leak was discovered Saturday near Prudhoe Bay when crews making a routine inspection found oil in the basement of a booster-pump building, CNN reported.
On a typical day more than 642,000 barrels of oil pass through the pipeline, said Michelle Egan, with the Aleyeska Pipeline Service Co., which owns the pipeline.
"Crews are currently on site to assess the situation and isolate the source of the leak," a company statement said.
