Doctors remove Giffords' breathing tube

TUCSON, Ariz. - As the grocery store in the Tucson shopping center that was the site of last week's shooting reopened, doctors yesterday announced they had removed Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' breathing tube.

Doctors at Tucson's University Medical Center said Giffords (D-Ariz.) remained in critical condition and was recovering as planned. A tracheotomy was performed yesterday morning, they said.

The "tracheotomy tube was placed in her windpipe, protecting her airway and freeing her from the ventilator," according to a statement released by the hospital. Surgeons also inserted a feeding tube to provide nutritional support. Doctors said these procedures are common among brain-injured patients.

Six people were killed in the shooting last Saturday, and at least a dozen were wounded, including Giffords. One patient was discharged yesterday, authorities said.

At the Safeway grocery store, which reopened at 7 a.m., customers trickled in, a few looking nervously around the area where the shooting happened. A makeshift memorial with flowers as well as red, white and blue ribbons and teddy bears sits in front of the store.

Safeway officials said the store's 88 employees have come back to work or plan to come back, and the store has provided counseling and other support services. Thirty-one employees were working in the store when the shooting occurred. None of them was hurt.

At 10:11 a.m. yesterday, the time of the shootings, Safeway officials observed a moment of silence to honor those who were killed and injured. Catherine Kloos, a spokeswoman for Safeway, said a memorial in front of the store symbolized what happened there. "It gives employees a way to recognize and remember the tragedy because it's not something that anyone's ever going to forget," she said.

Some Safeway employees said they had spent the past few days glued to the TV because they want more answers. The 31 who were in the store the day of the shooting have also met as a group for counseling. The store's employees are a close-knit group, they said.

The Pima County sheriff, Clarence Dupnik, whose daughter works for Safeway, came to offer support. He said 31 bullets were fired in front of the store and if not for the "courageous people who tackled the gunman it would have been a greater massacre than it was." He said the gunman had in his possession two more ammunition magazines - one with 31 rounds and another with 30 - when he was taken into custody.

The sheriff said the next step in the investigation is to find out more about Jared Loughner.

Meanwhile, one of the shooting victims was arrested yesterday and then taken for a psychiatric evaluation after authorities said he took a picture of a tea party leader at a televised town hall meeting and yelled: "you're dead." James Eric Fuller, 63, objected to something Trent Humphries said during the forum taped for a special edition of ABC's "This Week" with Christiane Amanpour, Pima County sheriff's spokesman Jason Ogan said.

Fuller was arrested on misdemeanor disorderly conduct and threat charges, Ogan said. Deputies decided Fuller needed a mental health evaluation and he was taken to a hospital, where he remained last night.