Bells will ring in Tucson at 10:10 a.m. today to commemorate the second anniversary of the Jan. 8, 2011, mass shooting.
Mayor Jonathan Rothschild will be at the downtown fire station at 300 S. Fire Central Place, which will ring its bell 19 times - one for each of the victims of the massacre. Rothschild is encouraging Tucsonans to join in by ringing bells at the same time. He's also urging local residents to take a moment and reflect.
A gunman opened fire during a congressional meet-and-greet at a Tucson-area shopping plaza at 10:10 a.m. on Jan. 8, 2011. In less than a minute he killed six people and injured 13, including then-U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot through the head and continues to recover.
An interview with Giffords and her husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, with ABC World News anchor Diane Sawyer is scheduled to be aired tonight at 5:30 Tucson time on KGUN Channel 9. The interview, in which Giffords and Kelly will announce a new initiative they are launching, will also be featured on "Good Morning America" and "Nightline," as well as ABCNews.com, Newsmakers on Yahoo!, ABC News Radio and ABC's local affiliates.
In a clip from the interview, Kelly talks about speaking with the father of one of the 20 children killed in the Dec. 14 mass shooting at a Connecticut school. In the excerpt, Giffords finishes Sawyer's sentence. Sawyer comments that when children are gunned down in a classroom, "it's time to say ... "
"Enough," Giffords says.
In the wake of the Connecticut shootings, Kelly called for more gun-control efforts, reiterating points he made at the sentencing of convicted Jan. 8 shooter Jared Lee Loughner on Nov. 7.
The six who died in the Tucson shooting were: Christina-Taylor Green, 9; Dorothy "Dot" Morris, 76; U.S. District Judge John M. Roll, 63; Phyllis Schneck, 79; Dorwan Stoddard, 76; and Gabriel "Gabe" Zimmerman, 30.
The Remembering January 8th Memorial Foundation is working on a permanent memorial. The foundation can be contacted by email at contact@tucsonj8.org or mail at Remembering January 8 Foundation, P.O. Box 40355, Tucson, AZ 84717.
An evening prayer to commemorate the Jan. 8 shootings will be held at 7 tonight at St. Philips in the Hills Episcopal Church, 4440 N. Campbell Ave. The homilist will be Jan. 8 survivor and former Giffords aide Pam Simon. A freewill offering will benefit St. Philip's Mental Illness Ministry.
