Giffords meets with 'Congress On Your Corner' constituents

Posted Jan 23, 2012

Dylan Smith
TucsonSentinel.com

Jd Fitzgerald-Photography/Giffords' FacebookBill Badger wore a 'Peace Love Gabby' bracelet for over a year, waiting to give it to the congresswoman.
@GabbyGiffords/TwitterGiffords speaks with Bill Badger, right, on Monday morning.
@GabbyGiffords/TwitterGiffords hugs former intern Daniel Hernandez.
@GabbyGiffords/TwitterGiffords speaks with Susan Hileman on Monday morning.
@GabbyGiffords/Twitter'She had true grit then and she has true grit now,' rancher Gary Thrasher said, according to Giffords' Twitter feed.

U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords met with constituents Monday in private gathering billed as a completion of the "Congress on Your Corner" event at which she was shot.

Giffords met with some of those who were present at the Northwest Side grocery store when the shooting rampage took place last year.

Photos of her hugging Daniel Hernandez, a former congressional intern credited with helping to save her life, and speaking with both retired Col. Bill Badger and Susan Hileman were posted on her Twitter feed Monday morning.

Badger, whose head was grazed by a bullet in the Jan. 8, 2011, attack that killed six and wounded 13, is one of those who helped tackled accused shooter Jared Loughner.

A caption on Giffords' Facebook page said Badger wore a 'Peace Love Gabby' bracelet for over a year, waiting to give it to the congresswoman.

Hileman, who was also wounded in the attack, was the neighbor who brought nine-year-old Christina-Taylor Green to meet her congresswoman. Green was shot in the back and killed.

The meeting included "some of those who were injured as well as some of the citizen heroes who aided injured people and some of those who subdued the gunman," according to a press release from her office.

Giffords was also to meet with community leaders on Monday morning, said spokesman Mark Kimble.

Among those she spoke with was Southern Arizona rancher Gary Thrasher.

"She had true grit then and she has true grit now," Thrasher said Monday, according to Giffords' Twitter feed.

Giffords announced Sunday that she was stepping down from Congress to focus on her recovery. The congresswoman was shot through the left side of her brain, and has only cast a single vote in Congress since the attack.