TUCSON, Ariz. — Rep. Gabrielle Giffords led a crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance, her words ringing out across a cold Tucson night in a rare public appearance Sunday evening at a candlelight vigil one year after surviving a shooting that killed six.
Giffords, D-Ariz., stepped onstage to cheers. Ron Barber, a staffer who was wounded in the deadly shooting, invited her to lead the audience in the pledge.
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The crowd chanted: “Gabby, Gabby.”
She limped to the podium, and her husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, helped lift her left hand over her heart. After a year in which she’s struggled to speak, she recited the pledge with the audience, a smile on her face as she punched each word.
The vigil at the University of Arizona capped off a day of events, including a church service and a citywide bell-ringing.
With hugs and tears, southern Arizonans recalled the dead, the shattered lives and those who acted heroically after a gunman opened fire at an outdoor meet-and-greet, severely wounding Giffords and killing six others.
The day of remembrance began with the ringing of church bells and hand-held bells throughout the city at 10:11 a.m., the exact time the gunman started shooting outside a Safeway supermarket Jan. 8, 2011.
“Even in the midst of this troubling year, the healing, the courage that we have experienced in our community – each one of us can notice how our cups overflow with the blessings of our lives,” said Stephanie Aaron, Giffords’ rabbi, who recited the 23rd Psalm at an interfaith service at the cathedral Sunday.
Relatives of the six dead each carried one red rose down the aisle, placing the flowers in a vase before a picture of a heart.
Hundreds of people at the cathedral, including Gov. Jan Brewer, stood and chanted, “We remember, we remember, we remember with grateful hearts.”
Girls in white dresses danced to a song called “Hero in the Dark,” and a pastor called on everyone to celebrate those who were lost and those who acted to save lives during the shooting.
At the Safeway memorial, with about 30 other people, Bruce Ellis and his wife, Kelly Hardesty, both 50, held each other and wept as the bells rang.
“It’s shocking to have a massacre like this occur in your backyard,” Ellis said.
Giffords and Kelly went to the scene of the shooting Saturday. They also visited the hospital where Giffords was treated after the attack and a trailhead outside Tucson named for slain Giffords aide Gabe Zimmerman.
At an afternoon event at the University of Arizona, Democratic Colorado Sen. Mark Udall, who was born and raised in Tucson, spoke about Giffords.
He said other politicians can learn from her and move away from incendiary comments.
“Words matter, and these days you don’t hear our elected officials using words to bring us together ,” Udall said.
Of 9-year-old Christina-Taylor Green, her best friends recalled a girl who aspired to dance with Beyonce, to be the first woman in Major League Baseball and one day be elected president.
“She wasn’t afraid of boys or sports or anything,” Serenity Hammrich said, standing with Jamie Stone on stage while many in the audience wept.
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