1 week anniversary of Tucson shootings sees victim issue death threat to local Tea Party founder

Local news station KGUN9 reports:

TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) – Two things are clear from Saturday’s ABC News town hall meeting in Tucson. One: Tucsonans are eager to move forward and recover from last week’s horrible shooting rampage. And two: that process is going to be slow and painful. That latter point was driven home by the arrest of a shooting victim, who threatened a speaker during the taping of the program.

ABC News Anchor Christiane Amanpour hosted the remarkable gathering of victims, heroes, witnesses and first responders. It was the first time most of them had been together since Jared Lee Loughner opened fire in a Safeway parking lot, killing 6, and wounding or injuring 14 others — a rampage that happened one week earlier almost to the hour.

On the platform with Amanpour were Col. Bill Badger, who helped tackle gunman Jared Lee Loughner; Daniel Hernandez, who ran to help wounded Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords while most people were ducking for cover, Patricia Maisch, who grabbed a magazine away from Loughner; Bill Hileman, whose wife, Susan, is still recovering from gunshot wounds.

On the front row was Kenneth Dorushka, who was shot shielding his wife from Loughner’s gunfire; and J. Eric Fuller, who was shot in the knee.

Most of the event was devoted to a recounting of what had happened that terrible morning. Amanpour gently led the witnesses and survivors through the events, getting them to tell what they saw and experienced, and to talk about how they are coping.

[…]

The theme of the event was “An American Conversation Continued” — the idea being to continue the conversation that a madman’s brutal rampage had interrupted. So it was inevitable that the conversation would eventually turn to politics. It did, toward the end, with Amanpour leading a discussion on a very touchy but obvious topic: gun control.

That’s where the atmosphere turned tense. When Tucson Tea Party founder Trent Humphries rose to suggest that any conversation about gun control should be put off until after the funerals for all the victims, witnesses say Fuller became agitated. Two told KGUN9 News that finally, Fuller took a picture of Humphries, and said, “You’re dead.”

When State Rep. Terri Proud (R-Tucson) rose to explain and clarify current and proposed gun legislation in the state, several people groaned or booed her. One of those booing, according to several witnesses, was Fuller. Witnesses sitting near Fuller told KGUN9 News that Fuller was making them feel very uncomfortable.

The event wrapped up a short time later. Deputies then escorted Fuller from the room. As he was being led off, Fuller shouted loudly to the room at large. Several witnesses said that what they thought they heard him shout was, “You’re all whores!”

Fuller, age 63, is a political operative who specializes in gathering petitions for ballot initiatives. Before the program began, he passed out business cards to people sitting around him that read:
“Signatures
“Expediting Initiatives since 2006
“J. Eric Fuller
“Political Circulator.”

So sadly ironic that this happened at all, let alone exactly one week after the horrific shooting spree at the Safeway that killed 6 and injured 12.

I should note that Fuller is the same person who was interviewed by the far left wing “news” outlet Democracy NOW blaming Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, and the Tea Party for the Tucson shootings:

One of the wounded in the Tucson, Ariz., shooting that left Rep. Gabrielle Giffords critically injured is blaming Sarah Palin, House Speaker John Boehner, Fox TV host Glenn Beck and former Nevada GOP Senate candidate Sharron Angle for the tragedy.

“It looks like Palin, Beck, Sharron Angle and the rest got their first target,” Eric Fuller said in an interview with Democracy NOW.

“Their wish for Second Amendment activism has been fulfilled — senseless hatred leading to murder, lunatic fringe anarchism, subscribed to by John Boehner, mainstream rebels with vengeance for all — even 9-year-old girls,” he added, referring to the death of Christina Taylor Green.

Fuller, a 63-year-old veteran, had campaigned for Giffords during her reelection and was at the supermarket for her Congress on Your Corner event.

“I would put Sarah Palin in first place there. I think, really, she should be incarcerated for treason for advocating assassinating public officials,” Fuller said in an interview with Media Matters. “That map I saw that she published on the Internet had crosshairs on it and one of them was meant for Gabrielle Giffords.”

Some people would argue that the state of mind he’s in after what happened last Saturday is an excuse of sorts for how he’s acting. I strongly disagree. As Bill Jacobson pointed out last week, being a victim of a crime does not give you license to make up facts – and it most definitely does not give you the right to do so unchallenged. Of course, the left wing -as Jacobson also noted in another post – commenced in doing one of the things they do best by hiding behind Fuller’s – who is now a new left wing heroic icon – victim status, criticizing those who would take issue with his comments. Absolute Moral Authority Card invoked, and all that. The word “shameless” doesn’t even begin to cover it with this sorry bunch.

Meanwhile, click here and scroll down the page for more examples of mainstream media figures and liberal pundits continuing to falsely report/insinuate that Jared Loughner was an “extremist right winger.” As I wrote on Twitter this morning, I wonder if – in light of the left’s (and MSM’s) dangerous and continued political demagoguery of last week’s shootings – they’ll be hanging a “Mission Accomplished” banner outside of Eric Fuller’s house? Or maybe Fuller will voluntarily hang the banner himself?

So much for the “new tone.”

In other – much more positive – news:

Tucson, Arizona (CNN) — U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who remains in critical condition after a shooting at a January 8 public event, is moving both sides of her body and is able to breathe on her own, a fellow member of Congress said Sunday.

“She’s doing great,” said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York, a friend of the Arizona congresswoman, on NBC’s “Meet The Press.” Gillibrand said she spoke to Giffords’ husband, Mark Kelly, on Saturday night and that Giffords is “making progress every day.”

Great to hear!