Jared Lee Loughner is an American mass murderer who plead guilty to 19 charges of murder and attempted murder in connection with the January 8, 2011, Tucson shooting, in which he shot and severely injured U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords, his target, and killed six people, including Chief U.S. District Court Judge John Roll, as well as a nine year old bystander, Christina-Taylor Green. Take a look below for 28 more creepy and interesting facts about Jared Lee Loughner.
1. Loughner shot and injured a total of 13 people while one man was injured while subduing him.
2. Acquaintances say that Loughner’s personality had changed markedly in the years prior to the shooting, a period during which he was also abusing alcohol and drugs.
3. He had been suspended from Pima Community College in September, 2010, because of his bizarre behavior and disruptions in classes and the library.
4. After his arrest, two medical evaluations diagnosed Loughner with paranoid schizophrenia and ruled him incompetent to stand trial.
5. He was placed on medication while in jail, as pat of his treatment.
6. He was again judged incompetent in May, 2012.
7. In August, 2012, Loughner was judged competent to stand trial, and at the hearing, he plead guilty to 19 counts.
8. In November, 2012, he was sentenced to life plus 140 years in federal prison.
9. Loughner was the only child of Randy and Amy Loughner. They were described as a very private family.
10. His mother worked for the City Parks Department, while his father was a retired gasoline truck driver.
11. While Loughner had friends in high school, neighbors noted that in the following years, he kept more to himself and rarely spoke to others.
12. He went to Mountain View High School in Mesa, Arizona, but didn’t graduate, dropping out in 2006. It was around this time that his behavior started to become more volatile and violent.
13. His closest friend at school, Zach Osler, stated that Loughner’s life started to come apart following the break-up with his high school girlfriend.
14. According to his ex-girlfriend, Kelsey Hawkes, he was “sweet” and “caring” when they were together.
15. As a young man, he did several odd jobs but failed to hold any of them down. His former employer at Quiznos said that while he was initially an enthusiastic worker, he underwent a drastic personality transformation after which he become more withdrawn and negligent at his job.
16. Following his break up with Hawkes, Loughner’s drinking became a problem. He also started to take different types of drugs and hallucinogenics, including marijuana, LSD, cocaine, psychedelic mushrooms, and Salvia divinorum.
17. He was arrested twice: once in 2007 when he was charged for the possession of drug paraphernalia, and a second time in 2008, for drawing a stylized CX, what he called were Christian symbols, on a street sing in Marana, Arizona.
18. In December, 2008, Loughner was rejected from enlisting in the U.S. Army after a failed drug test.
19. According to records, Loughner had registered as an independent in 2006 and 2008.
20. Responding to the speculation that Loughner’s actions were fueled by his dislike for partisan politics in media, Osler told ABC News that Loughner didn’t watch TV and he didn’t like the news.
21. An active member of the message board Above The Secret, which is used for conspiracy theories, he supported fringe beliefs on 9/11 attacks and the New World Order, and thought that the world would end in 2012.
22. He was a fan of the online documentary series “Zeitgeist,” which shaped many of his views on global currency.
23. Acquaintances have called him “anti-theist.”
24. In one of his videos, titled “Final Thoughts,” he said, “No, I don’t trust in God!”, alluding to the United States Nation Motto that appears on the country’s paper and metallic currency.
25. Loughner had been critical of Giffords for a long time. He often cited her as “fake” and even believed that women shouldn’t hold positions in politics.
26. On November 30, 2010, Loughner bought a 9mm Glock pistol from a Sportsman Warehouse store in Tucson. He bought ammunition on the morning of January 8, 2011, from a Walmart store at North Cortaro Road in Tuscon.
27. Loughner was caught by bystanders and later handed over to the police.
28. He eventually faced 50 federal criminal charges, including killing federal government employees, attempting to assassinate a member of Congress, and attempting to kill federal employees.