6 killed in Tucson remembered at memorial

TUCSON, Jan. 12 (UPI) -- Six people killed at a political event in Tucson were memorialized at a rally Wednesday, one day after a memorial mass in their honor at a Tucson church.

Christina Green and those who died with her were remembered Tuesday in a mass at the church where the 9-year-old had her first communion. Bishop Gerald Kicanas gave the homily at St. Odilia Roman Catholic Church, the Arizona Daily Star reported.

The service was called a Mass for the Healing of Our Community, and the church, which holds about 700, was packed -- with more people watching a TV feed in the parish hall. Kicanas urged the congregation to "commit our efforts to rid our communities of violence and all that causes it."

Jared Lee Loughner, 22, has been charged with the mass shooting, and investigators believe he was targeting Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., who remains in critical condition.

Christina came to the Congress on the Corner event Saturday because she wanted to meet Giffords.

President Barack Obama and several Cabinet members traveled to Tucson Wednesday to participate in the "Together We Thrive: Tucson and America" event at the University of Arizona, where Obama told an emotional crowd Giffords is able to open her eyes and knows the country is pulling for her.

The other victims were U.S. District Judge John Roll, his law clerk Matthew Bowman, Gabriel Zimmerman, a Giffords staff member, Dorwan Stoddard, who was shot after he threw himself over his wife, and Phyllis Schneck, a snowbird from New Jersey, a Republican who wanted to meet Giffords.

Roxanna Green, Christina's mother, described her daughter as a vibrant girl who played Little League baseball.

"She got robbed of a beautiful life that she could have had," Roxanna Green said.