Arizona Shooting Suspect Wrote ‘Die Bitch’ on Giffords Letter

Jan. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Jared Loughner, accused of shooting U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords, wrote “die bitch” and “die cops” on a letter he received from the lawmaker in 2007, officials said.

The note was found by FBI investigators searching the Tucson, Arizona, home of Loughner and his parents, Pima County Sheriff’s Department Captain Chris Nanos said in a telephone interview tonight.

Loughner was charged in federal court on Jan. 9 with the attempted assassination of a member of Congress; two counts of murder in the deaths of U.S. District Judge John Roll and Gabriel Zimmerman, a member of Giffords’s staff; and two counts of attempted murder in the wounding of two other staff members.

Altogether, six people were killed and 14 injured in the Jan. 8 shooting spree at a Tucson shopping mall. On the morning of the shooting, Giffords, a Democrat who won a close victory in November, was meeting with constituents outside a grocery store.

Giffords was shot in the head and is in intensive care in Tucson’s University Medical Center. Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said she was the target of the attack.

The “die bitch” note found in Loughner’s house was written on a letter from Giffords that thanked Loughner for attending a 2007 campaign event where he questioned Giffords, investigators from the sheriff’s office have said.

Nanos also said that on the morning of the shooting, Loughner’s father, Randy, saw Jared remove a black bag from a car. Randy Loughner confronted his son, who fled, Nanos said.

--Editors: Leslie Hoffecker, John Brinsley

To contact the reporters on this story: Justin Blum in Tucson at jblum4@bloomberg.net; Drew Armstrong in Tucson at darmstrong17@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva at msilva34@bloomberg.net.