• 'Home for good': Gabrielle Giffords and husband move back to Tucson

    Samantha Sais / Reuters, file

    Gabrielle Giffords waves to the crowd with husband Mark Kelly at her side after voting in Tucson on June 12.

    By NBC News staff and wire reports

    PHOENIX - Former Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords, who was gravely wounded in a mass shooting that killed six and injured 12 others, moved back home to Tucson on Sunday, her husband said.

    "Moving back to Tucson today," tweeted her husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly. "Gabby has been waiting for this day for a long time.

    Kelly said the couple was returning to Tucson from Houston, where she underwent intensive rehabilitation after being shot through the head at a meet-and-greet event with constituents in Tucson about 18 months ago. Among those killed were a 9-year-old girl and a federal judge.

    Loughner pleads guilty to Tucson shootings, avoids death penalty

    Giffords, 42, resigned from office in January to focus on her recovery. She visited Tucson several times since the mass shooting that occurred outside a supermarket.

    "She's gone home before to visit, but this is different," Kelly was quoted as saying in the Arizona Daily Star. "She'll be home for good. She's very, very happy."

    "Since the day she basically realized that she was not in Arizona anymore after her injury ... very early on, the first stuff she talked about was getting home," Kelly told the newspaper. "But it was very important for her to be in Houston, where she was able to get very specific therapy for this type of injury. She did that for a year and a half and the second we realized that was going to start winding down, it was time for us to start looking forward to how we could get to Tucson."

    The two recently bought a home in the city, the newspaper added. 

    Slideshow: Ariz. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords

    Saul Loeb / EPA

    A look at the Arizona lawmaker's rise to prominence — from high school to Capitol Hill.

    Launch slideshow

    The accused gunman in the shooting spree, Jared Loughner, 23, has pleaded guilty to 19 counts under a plea agreement that guarantees he will spend the rest of his life in prison. He is to be sentenced in November. 

    Giffords makes rare public appearance to accept award

    A federal Bureau of Prisons psychologist observing Loughner concluded in an April report released Thursday that he was mentally competent to stand trial for the shooting, but there was no guarantee he would remain so given his fragile state.

    Jared Lee Loughner will spend the rest of his life in jail for killing six people and wounding others, including then-Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, during a 2011 shooting rampage in Arizona. NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports.

    Christina Pietz also concluded that Loughner’s status "may wax and wane" and could seriously worsen under the pressure of a trial.

    Her assessment is part of what led his lawyers to conclude that a guilty plea was the wisest move.

    Medication was controlling the psychotic symptoms of Loughner's schizophrenia, Pietz said.

    'As much of a normal life as possible'
    Giffords, meanwhile, appears to have made great strides in her recovery since the shooting, and has shown significant improvement in her physical strength, particularly in her ability to walk unaided.

    Arizona Democrats hold on to Giffords' congressional seat


    In Aug. 2011, she prompted a standing ovation from members of Congress on her first return to the House floor since the shooting. 

    On the one-year anniversary of the shooting Giffords recited the Pledge of Allegiance in front of a hometown crowd, the Daily Star reported, but just two weeks later she resigned from Congress.

    Kelly and Giffords took a holiday from her grueling  rehabilitation schedule over the summer, traveling through Switzerland, Italy, France and Spain, the Daily Star reported.

    PhotoBlog: Gabrielle Giffords summits French Alps

    "She's getting to the point with some things she needs less than others. You know, it's time for her to get back to as much of a normal life as possible after this type of catastrophic injury," Kelly said, according to the paper. "Obviously, a big thing for her is to come home."

    Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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  • Tucson shooting suspect to remain at Mo. facility

    By The Associated Press and NBC News

    A federal judge ruled Monday that the suspect in the Tucson shooting rampage that wounded former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords will spend four more months at a federal prison facility where officials are forcibly medicating him.

    In making his decision, U.S. District Court Judge Larry Burns noted that Jared Lee Loughner has made marked improvement at the facility in Springfield, Mo., where he has participated in group therapy with other inmates and at times had coherent speech and steady eye contact with others.

    "That in and of itself is a signal of measurable progress," Burns said, adding that when he first saw the suspect in court, "there was no way" he could have done that.

    Mental health experts have determined that Loughner, 23, suffers from schizophrenia and are trying to make him fit to stand trial.

    He has pleaded not guilty to 49 charges stemming from the Jan. 8, 2011, attack in Tucson that killed six people and injured 12 others, including Giffords, who resigned from Congress last month to focus on recovering from being shot in the head.

    Loughner's attorneys have vigorously fought the government's efforts to medicate him with psychotropic drugs, although they did not object to the judge's decision Monday. Attorney Judy Clarke declined to comment after the hearing.

    Last week, the judge revealed that the doctor supervising Loughner's care, Christina Pietz, told the court in late January that Loughner "remains incompetent to stand trial, in particular because he lacks an adequate understanding of the nature and consequences of the charges against him."

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  • Giffords improves, judge's funeral held

    AP/Morry Gash

    The hearse carrying the body of John Roll arrives at a Catholic church in Tucson, Ariz., on Friday for his funeral service.

    From NBC, msnbc.com and news services

    TUCSON, Ariz. — Rep. Gabrielle Giffords continues to make progress, her doctors said Friday, as mourners gathered nearby to honor slain judge John Roll, one of the victims of the attack on Giffords and others.

    Trauma surgeon Dr. Peter Rhee said the breathing tube attached to Giffords might be removed in a day or so.

    “She is progressing normally without any complications or setbacks. She’s on schedule as we had hoped ... Even overnight, she’s made significant progress," he told MSNBC TV.

    “She can hear us, she can respond," Rhee added. "As it gets higher up on the curve the changes are going to be less dramatic . We’ll see a lot of things in the next 2 months. Then the changes will be more subtle for the next year … and after that.”

    Neurosurgeon Michael Lemole added that "we're very encouraged that she continues to make all the right moves in the right direction. We're cautious that she's making them at her own pace." Her eyes are opening more frequently and she is more responsive, he added.

    AP reported that Giffords' husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, posted a message on Twitter Friday thanking people for the messages of support and said "GG," as he referred to her, was "improving each day."

    On Thursday, doctors said Giffords had passed a "major milestone" on her recovery and suggested the tube might be removed soon.

    The Arizona congresswoman has been sitting up, dangling her legs on the edge of the hospital bed and moving her limbs in response to commands. That's after she spontaneously opened her eyes during visits with her colleagues Wednesday night. She is able to lift both of her legs on command and is yawning and starting to rub her eyes, doctors said Thursday.

    Mourning a judge
    Meanwhile, the federal judge killed in the Arizona shooting rampage was remembered Friday not just for his work from the bench, but for who he was in private: a man devoted to family, faith and fairness.

    U.S. District Judge John Roll had stopped by a supermarket meet-and-greet for Giffords on Saturday when he was killed, along with five others. Authorities say the shooter, 22-year-old Jared Loughner, was targeting the lawmaker, who was wounded along with 12 others.

    Roll's funeral Friday came a day after the youngest victim, Christina Taylor Green, was laid to rest and amid tight security. Four big coach buses brought dozens of judges who knew Roll over the years.

    During the funeral, Roll's older brother, Ed, recalled how the family had moved to Arizona from Pittsburgh because their mother was in poor health. She eventually died when Roll was 15, said Carol Bahill, 61, who attended the ceremony.

    Ed Roll told mourners Roll changed his middle name from Paul to his Irish mother's maiden name, McCarthy, "to keep that part of the family alive," Bahill recalled.

    "It made it very personal," she said. "You do feel like you knew something about him personally."

    Roll's three sons were among the pallbearers, and family members and two federal judges gave readings, according to a program for the funeral. Dignitaries including Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer as well as Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl attended.

    Former Vice President Dan Quayle was to bring a handwritten message from former President George H.W. Bush, who appointed Roll to the bench in 1991, said Adam Goldberg, a spokesman for the fire department and the event.

    Most of the nation had never heard of Green before the tragedy Saturday, but Roll, 63, had attracted death threats and became a lightning rod in the state's immigration debate after his ruling in a controversial border-crossing case two years ago.

    Roll's death leaves a huge hole in the federal judiciary in Arizona, not only because of the workload but because he had a reputation as a fair-minded and hardworking jurist, said Paul Carter, an assistant state attorney general.

    "Although I really knew him as a judge, what came through here today and what I hoped would be my legacy as well, is that he was a good father, a good family man, and just a fair guy," Carter said.

    Death threats
    Roll, 63, who had attended daily Mass, was just coming from a service when he stopped by the local Safeway to see Giffords, by some accounts to thank her for her support in addressing the issue of a federal judge and court shortage in Arizona.

    Roll's Saturday was full of mundane errands, but he was no stranger to death threats and controversy.

    Two years ago, Roll presided over the case of 16 illegal immigrants who had sued border rancher Roger Barnett, saying he threatened them at gunpoint, kicked them and harassed them with dogs. Barnett argued that the plaintiffs couldn't sue him because they were in the U.S. illegally, but Roll upheld the civil rights claim and allowed a jury to hear the case.

    The panel eventually awarded the illegal immigrants just $73,000 — much less than the millions sought — but the case was a flash point in a state that struggles to curb crossings at its border.

    Roll received death threats and was under around-the-clock protection while hearing the case.

    "It was unnerving and invasive ... by its nature it has to be," Roll told the Arizona Republic in a mid-2009 interview. He said he followed the advice of the Marshals Service to not press charges against four men identified as threatening him.

    Roll also had taken a leading position in pressing for more courts and judges to deal with the dramatic increase in federal cases caused by illegal immigration.

    A week before his death, he declared a judicial emergency in southern Arizona as the number of federal felony cases more than doubled, from 1,564 to 3,289, the Los Angeles Times reported. He asked the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals for an emergency declaration extending the time to bring felony defendants into court from 70 days to 180 days, the paper reported.

    Roll was an Arizona Court of Appeals and state trial court judge from 1987 to 1991. He worked as a city, county and federal prosecutor from 1973 until his appointment to the bench. He also worked for two years as a bailiff in the Pima County courts in the early 1970s.

    A Pennsylvania native, he earned undergraduate and law degrees at the University of Arizona and an advanced law degree from the University of Virginia. He was an avid golfer and was heavily involved in his church, St. Thomas the Apostle.

    Roll is survived by his wife, Maureen, three sons, and five grandchildren.

    Roll walked his two basset hounds around the neighborhood every morning, and seemed inseparable from his wife, said George Kriss, 70, who came to the service Friday but didn't get in.

    "They were always together, walking the dogs, when the grandkids were with them," Kriss said.