Judge: Jared Loughner should stay on drugs

TUCSON, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- A federal judge said Monday Jared Loughner, accused in a Jan, 8, 2011, Tucson shooting spree, is improving and should stay on anti-psychotic medication.

U.S. District Judge Larry Burns wrote there is a "substantial probability" Loughner will be restored to competency so he stand trial for the rampage outside a Tucson supermarket that left six people dead and 13, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., wounded, CNN reported.

Burns kept Loughner's current mental health treatment plan in place.

"There is overwhelming evidence that the defendant is getting better, not the least of which is the noticeable improvement in his appearance, demeanor and behavior since he was last in court," the judge said in his six-page ruling.

The 23-year-old suspected gunman has been diagnosed as schizophrenic. He has been held and treated at a federal hospital in Springfield, Mo. The courts have allowed his forced medication.