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Arizona shooting suspect Jared Loughner is mentally unfit to stand trial on charges that he killed six people and wounded US Representative Gabrielle Giffords, a federal judge ruled Wednesday. US District Judge Larry Burns said Loughner, 22, was incapable of understanding the proceedings against him and of assisting in his own defense. Loughner, described by his lawyers as "gravely mentally ill," rocked back and forth in his chair during the hearing and was dragged shouting from the courtroom before the ruling. "She died in front of me," he went on as marshals hustled him out. The judge cited the conclusions of two experts, a forensic psychiatrist and a clinical psychologist, that Loughner suffers from schizophrenia, disordered thinking and delusions. Burns ruled Loughner would remain in custody at a prison hospital and set a hearing for September 21 to determine whether his condition has improved enough for proceedings to resume. Loughner is accused of firing a semiautomatic pistol at Giffords and a crowd of bystanders attending a political gathering outside a Tucson supermarket in January. Six people, including a federal judge, were killed and 13 were wounded. Sitting in court for their son's hearing, Loughner's mother wept bitterly at his outburst as his father comforted his wife. Giffords, a Democratic member of Congress from Arizona, is undergoing rehabilitation after being shot in the head, but was able to travel to Florida this month to see her astronaut husband blast off on the latest mission of the space shuttle Endeavour. Loughner will return to the federal prison hospital in Springfield, Missouri, where the college dropout spent five weeks undergoing psychiatric evaluation. Reuters |
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