Arizona police has confirmed that six people were killed and 13 others were wounded when a gunman went on a shooting spree as U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords addressed her supporters in Tucson on Saturday.
Media reports earlier said five people were killed and at least 11 others were wounded.
Giffords, 40, was shot in the head at point-blank range and was hospitalized in a critical condition. She underwent brain surgery, and doctors said they were "cautiously optimistic" about her recovery.
U.S. District Judge John Roll, Giffords' aide and a 9-year-old girl are among the killed, local police said.
Giffords is known as a moderate centrist politician and a rising star among American lawmakers. A third-term Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives, she supported the right of Americans to bear arms and criticized existing immigration laws.
The suspect, who was apprehended at the scene, has been identified as a 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner of Arizona. He used a 9-mm semi-automatic handgun to execute the attack.
Police believe that the suspect might have had an accomplice who fled the scene after the shooting started.
U.S. President Barack Obama called the shooting a "senseless and terrible act of violence" and an "unspeakable tragedy."
WASHINGTON, January 9 (RIA Novosti)
