Post date: Jan 08, 2011 10:20:24 PM
Doctor treating U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords for a gunshot wound says he is very optimistic about her recovery.
TUCSON, ARIZONA, UNITED STATES (JANUARY 8, 2010) NBC - The doctor treating U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords for a gunshot wound said on Saturday (January 8) he was very optimistic about her recovery.
"She's in critical condition," Dr. Peter Rhee said. "The neurosurgeons have finished operating on her and I can tell you that in the current time period I am very optimistic about recovery."Rhee described Giffords' wound as "through-and-through ... It went through her brain."
One child had died and nine other victims were being treated for shooting wounds, Rhee told a news conference at Tucson's University Medical Center.
Officials said six people were killed by a man who opened fire at a meeting the politician was holding in Tucson.
Giffords, a 40-year-old Democrat in her third term in the House of Representatives, was airlifted to a hospital in Tucson after being shot in the head at point-blank range outside a Safeway supermarket in the Arizona city.
Police say the suspected gunman is in their custody. NBC News said the suspected gunman was Jared Laughner, 22, of Arizona. NBC cited officials as saying one of the dead was federal judge John Roll.
President Barack Obama deplored the attack as an "unspeakable tragedy," saying in a statement that "while we are continuing to receive information, we know that some have
passed away, and that Representative Giffords is gravely wounded."
Giffords was hosting a "Congress on Your Corner" event -- public gatherings to give her constituents a chance to talk directly with her -- when attacked from about 4 feet (1.2 metres) away, NPR said.
It said the suspect tried to run away but was tackled by a bystander.