Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords Shot, At Least 6 Killed at Town Hall Shooting

I just got home from a very enjoyable day with my parents, my brothers, and their families, to discover a man in Arizona just ripped families apart, forever.

A shooting rampage at a town hall-style event Saturday in Tucson, Ariz., left six dead, including a federal judge, and critically wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who police said was the target of the attack. There were more than a dozen others wounded.

Giffords is in intensive care but expected to survive after being shot in the head at close range.

The local sheriff seems to think there may have been accomplices, but comments I've read about him elsewhere make me suspect he doesn't know what he's talking about. That would give him something in common with the shooter, Jared Lee Loughner, who seems to have gone off the deep end quite some time ago, with a history of substance abuse and bizarre statements many are interpreting as signs of mental illness.

Descriptions from those who knew him make him sound a bit like Andrew Mickel, an Indymedia blogger that assassinated a police officer in hopes of triggering a civil war, and who is now on California's death row. At the moment, though, I could care less about the shooter or his motivations.

My prayers are with the families of those killed and injuries and the shock and agony they are enduring. My thoughts are of my family, how precious they are to me, and how I must focus on living every day with them like it is my last, because some day, it will be.

God be with us all.