Retired NASA Astronaut Mark Kelly Addresses The Man Who Tried To Murder His Wife

Retired NASA astronaut Mark Kelly and his wife, former Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.  Photo Credit: Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords' office
Retired NASA astronaut Mark Kelly and his wife, former Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Photo Credit: Gabrielle Giffords’ office

Jared Lee Loughner, the man who killed six people in cold blood and tried to assassinate former Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, was given seven consecutive life prison sentences without parole at a hearing last Thursday in Tucson, Arizona.  Giffords was shot in the head during the shooting rampage in a supermarket parking lot near Tucson in January 2011, twelve other victims were gunned down as well but lived through the ordeal.

Her husband, former NASA astronaut and space shuttle commander Mark Kelly, had some powerful words for his wife’s attacker.  The following is his statement, given in federal court at the hearing before the judge formally imposed Loughner’s consecutive life sentences.

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“Mr. Loughner, for the first and last time, you are going to hear directly from Gabby and me about what you took away on Jan. 8, 2011 – and, just as important, what you did not.

So pay attention.

That bright and chilly Saturday morning, you killed six innocent people. Daughters and sons. Mothers and fathers. Grandparents and friends. They were devoted to their families, their communities, their places of worship.  Gabby would trade her own life to bring back any one of those you savagely murdered on that day.  Especially young Christina-Taylor Green, whose high-minded ideas about service and democracy deserved a full life committed to advancing them.

Especially 30-year-old Gabe Zimmerman, whom Gabby knew well and cherished, and whose love for his family and his fiancee’ and service to his country were as deep as his loss is tragic.

Especially Judge John Roll, whom Gabby was honored to call a colleague and friend and from whose dedication to our community and country she gained enormous inspiration.

Gabby would give anything to take away the grief you visited upon the Morrises, the Schnecks and the Stoddards – anything to heal the bodies and psyches of your other victims.

And then there is what you took from Gabby.

Congresswoman Giffords listens as her husband, Captain Mark Kelly speaks at his retirement ceremony with Vice President Joe Biden in the Secretary of War Suite in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, in Washington, D.C., October. 6, 2011.  Photo Credit: David Lienemann / Official White House Photo
Congresswoman Giffords listens as her husband, Captain Mark Kelly speaks at his retirement ceremony with Vice President Joe Biden in the Secretary of War Suite in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, in Washington, D.C., October. 6, 2011. Photo Credit: David Lienemann / Official White House Photo

Her life has been forever changed. Plans she had for our family and her career have been immeasurably altered. Every day is a continuous struggle to do those things she was once so very good at.

Gabby is a people person: she exudes kindness, creativity and compassion. If she were not born with the name “Gabby,” someone would have given it to her. Now she struggles to deliver each and every sentence. Her gift for language can now only be seen in Internet videos from a more innocent time.

Gabby was an outdoor enthusiast. She was often seen rollerblading with her friend Raoul in Reid Park, hiking in Sabino Canyon or careening down the Rillito River Park on her bike, as she was the night before you tried and failed to murder her. She hasn’t been to any of those places since, and I don’t know when she’ll return.

There’s more. Gabby struggles to walk. Her right arm is paralyzed. She is partially blind. Gabby works harder in one minute of an hour – fighting to make each individual moment count for something – than most of us work in an entire day.

Mr. Loughner, by making death and producing tragedy, you sought to extinguish the beauty of life. To diminish potential. To strain love. And to cancel ideas. You tried to create for all of us a world as dark and evil as your own.

But know this, and remember it always: You failed.

Your decision to commit cold-blooded mass murder also begs of us to look in the mirror. This horrific act warns us to hold our leaders and ourselves responsible for coming up short when we do,  for not having the courage to act when it’s hard, even for possessing the wrong values.

We are a people who can watch a young man like you spiral into murderous rampage without choosing to intervene before it is too late.

Mark Kelly at the side of wife Gabrielle Giffords in the University Medical Center, recovering from injuries sustained during the 2011 Tucson shooting.  Photo Credit: Gabrielle Giffords' office
Mark Kelly at the side of wife Gabrielle Giffords in the University Medical Center, recovering from injuries sustained during the 2011 Tucson shooting. Photo Credit: Gabrielle Giffords’ office

We have a political class that is afraid to do something as simple as have a meaningful debate about our gun laws and how they are being enforced. We have representatives who look at gun violence not as a problem to solve, but as the white elephant in the room to ignore. As a nation we have repeatedly passed up the opportunity to address this issue.

After Columbine, after Virginia Tech, after Tucson and after Aurora we have done nothing.

In this state we have elected officials so feckless in their leadership that they would say, as in the case of Gov. Jan Brewer, “I don’t think it has anything to do with the size of the magazine or the caliber of the gun.” She went on and said, “Even if the shooter’s weapon had held fewer bullets, he’d have another gun, maybe. He could have three guns in his pocket.”

She said this just one week after a high-capacity magazine allowed you to kill six and wound 13 others, before being wrestled to the ground while attempting to reload.

Our state Legislature thought it appropriate to busy itself naming an official Arizona state gun just weeks after this tragedy occurred instead of doing the work it was elected to do: encourage economic growth, help our returning veterans and fix our education system.

The challenges we face are so great, but the leadership in place is so often lacking. In so many moments, I find myself thinking, “We need Gabby.”

In letter after letter, I’ve seen that others agree. As Americans mourned the six who died, they also mourned the loss of a representative who embodied the service they realized they should expect from those they elect, the type of person our county desperately needs to provide leadership and solve problems.

Gabby was a courageous member of Congress, willing to stand up to the establishment when the establishment was wrong. She was thirsty for partnership across the aisle and was an unrelenting champion for her 600,000 constituents, one of whom was you.

There’s something else Gabby and I have been spending a lot of time thinking about: the way we conduct politics must change. Sure, it’s easier to win a debate if you can turn your opponent into a demon, but that’s not how we move forward. Not only does slash-and-burn politics make Americans cynical about their leaders, but it leads to bad ideas. It creates problems instead of solving the ones we have now.

Mark Kelly hugs his wife Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords after receiving the Legion of Merit from Vice President Joe Biden during Captain Kelly's retirement ceremony in the Secretary of War Suite in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, in Washington, D.C., Oct. 6, 2011.  Photo Credit:  David Lienemann / Official White House photo
Mark Kelly hugs his wife Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords after receiving the Legion of Merit from Vice President Joe Biden during Captain Kelly’s retirement ceremony in the Secretary of War Suite in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, in Washington, D.C., Oct. 6, 2011. Photo Credit: David Lienemann / Official White House photo

Even amid all that was lost, Gabby and I give thanks for her life, her spirit and her intellect, which are a continued force in this world despite what you’ve done. We exalt in sharing our lives with each other and with our family and friends.

As a city, Tucson has grown stronger. We love this community, and we love our neighbors. We are resilient, and the dynamism and compassion of our fellow Tucsonans will continue to push this city forward.

And there is what persists in Gabby: her love for this city, this state and this country. Her commitment to lifting us all up. Her ability to lead.  Mr. Loughner, you may have put a bullet through her head, but you haven’t put a dent in her spirit and her commitment to make the world a better place.

Mr. Loughner, pay close attention to this: Though you are mentally ill, you are responsible for the death and hurt you inflicted upon all of us on January 8th of last year.  You know this.  Gabby and I know this.  Everyone in this courtroom knows this.  You have decades upon decades to contemplate what you did.  But after today, after this moment, here and now, Gabby and I are done thinking about you.”

 

 

One Comment

  1. What an incredibly powerful, thought-provoking, and evocative statement from such an amazing individual, a person who worked so hard to be an astronaut in command of his own mission, yet was willing to sacrifice what he wanted so much to be at the side of his beloved wife in her time of need. It is absolutely WONDERFUL to see Gabby looking so great after being pulled back from the brink of what could have easily been yet another tragic, senseless death. What an amazing woman of such strength and courage! If America needs a royal family, they need look no farther! On to a full and complete recovery – God’s Speed Gabrielle Giffords!!

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