Tucson Commemorates Shooting 10 Years Later

"Gun violence in this country is an epidemic,” said President Joe Biden on April 8, as he outlined executive actions to curb that grim reality. In just one week in March, eight people—including six Asian women—were killed by a gunman in Atlanta, and 10 people were shot and died in a Boulder, Colorado, grocery store.

Now the people of Tucson, Arizona, have a memorial to commemorate another infamous date in America’s seemingly never-ending story of gun violence: January 8, 2011, when 19 people were gunned down by one shooter while gathering in a shopping center to meet their U.S. representative, Gabrielle (Gabby) Giffords. Among the six people who died that day were 9-year-old Christina-Taylor Green and Giffords’ aide Gabe Zimmerman—the first Congressional staffer to be killed in the line of duty. Giffords narrowly survived the attempted assassination with severe brain damage, and retired from her office to advocate against gun violence.