CBS/AP/ January 12, 2011, 10:52 PM

Loughner Stopped by Police Hours before Shooting

Updated 7:18 p.m. ET

TUCSON, Ariz. - A wildlife officer pulled over the suspect in the assassination attempt against an Arizona congresswoman less than three hours before the deadly attack, authorities said Wednesday as they pieced together more details of a frenzied morning.

Jared Lougher, 22, ran a red light but was let off with a warning at 7:30 a.m. Saturday, the Arizona Game and Fish Department said. The officer took Loughner's driver's license and vehicle registration information but found no outstanding warrants on Loughner or his vehicle.

Special Section: Tragedy in Tucson

Wildlife officers have full authority to make traffic stops, although they usually don't do so unless public safety is at risk, the department said in a news release.

Jim Paxon, chief information officer for Arizona Game and Fish told CBS News that the stop took place at Interstate 10 and an unnamed cross street, "several miles" from the Safeway store where the shootings took place.

This detail is the latest in a series of snapshots emerging about the final hours before Loughner allegedly opened fire with a semi-automatic Glock handgun in a crowded Tucson Safeway parking lot.

Six people remain in the hospital from the shooting, CBS News Correspondent Ben Tracy reports. Doctors said U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who underwent brain surgery after being shot in the head during Saturday's rampage, continues to improve and is now less sedated. At Giffords' Tucson office, staffers continue her work while a memorial grows out front.

"We all live here," Tucsonan Michelle McIntyre told CBS News. "We all have to get along, and we all just have to just deal with it."

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The night before the shooting, Friday, Jan. 7, Loughner slept at an area motel. He apparently drove to the motel in the Chevy Nova now parked at the Loughner home. Police have since searched the vehicle thoroughly.

At 2:33 a.m. Saturday, Loughner visited a convenience store less than a mile from his house, CBS News reports. Alone, he bought a doughnut, a soft drink and several energy bars. He did not buy alcohol.

Surveillance video of Loughner at the Catalina Mart has been given to the FBI, which wanted the video to see if he had any accomplices, CBS News reports. The FBI scanned Loughner's credit card purchases to track his whereabouts before the shooting.

The morning of the shooting, Loughner went to two WalMart stores to buy ammunition. He left the first store because the clerk was too slow. He bought the ammo at the second store.

Either right before or right after buying the ammo, Loughner was pulled over for running a red light and released, in the earlier described incident.

After being pulled over, Loughner went home and had a confrontation with his father, Randy Loughner.

Loughner ran into the desert from his angry father, who was chasing his son after seeing him remove a black bag from the trunk of a family car, said Rick Kastigar, chief of the Pima County Sheriffs Department's investigations bureau. Randy Loughner had apparently asked after the bag, and his son then fled. Investigators are still searching for the bag.

After the run-in with his dad, he took a cab from a convenience store to the Safeway.

The suspect was "moving around quite a bit, going from location to location," the morning of the shooting, the FBI said recently, as they continue to develop a time line of the suspects movements prior to the shooting and the weeks and months before as well.

The sheriff's deputies who swarmed the Loughners' house removed what they describe as evidence Loughner was targeting Giffords. Among the handwritten notes was one with the words "Die, bitch," which authorities told The Associated Press they believe was a reference to Giffords.

Investigators with the Pima County Sheriff's Department previously said they found handwritten notes in Loughner's safe reading "I planned ahead," "My assassination" and "Giffords." Capt. Chris Nanos said all the writings were either in an envelope or on a form letter Giffords' office sent him in 2007 after he signed in at one of her "Congress on Your Corner" events - the same kind of gathering where the massacre occurred.

In addition to the new details about the hours before the shooting, interviews with those who knew Loughner or his family painted a picture of a young loner who tried to fit in, but was increasingly troubled.

Before everything fell apart, he went through the motions as many young men do nowadays: Living at home with his parents, working low-wage jobs at big brand stores and volunteering time doing things he liked.

None of it worked. His relationship with his parents was strained. He clashed with co-workers and police. And he couldn't follow the rules at an animal shelter where he spent some time.
© 2011 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
23 Comments Add a Comment
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gruven13777 says:
It seems that everyday, Jared's rap sheet gets longer and longer. I would imagine that Dupnik and his Pima County Sheriff's Dept. are in full CYA mode right about now.
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morriswise says:
It is strange that Jared worshiped the skull found in the back of his home. Hitler often spoke of returning Germany to Paganism and often prayed at an alter made up of a skull surrounded by candles.
The skull was worn as a ring by the dreaded SS who also proudly displayed the occult swastika on their armbands.
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DoubleDutchPolitics says:
As much as people want to draw a direct connection to this political assassination attempt and the heated rhetoric that we've grown so accustom to in this country, in the final analysis it may have had a small affect but the signs point to Loughner being a very sick individual:

http://www.doubledutchpolitics.com/2011/01/jared-loughner-why-did-he-do-it
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NativeMT says:
The whole thing is sad.. I really feel for her family.
The real sad thing is There will be no accountability for his actions...
Dont say jail time.. That is a joke!! He should hang. End of story
We have become a nation of weak sad people... We need to actully use the death penitly
People are not worried about committing these crimes because there is no real penitly
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gruven13777 replies:
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Probably won't happen. According to the AZ Newspaper Jared's attorney has asked the court to exclude Arizona's entire federal bench from hearing the case because the federal judge that Jared killed, was one of their colleagues. The whole thing will more than likely be move to a California court...and you know what that means.
voiceforsanity replies:
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Hundreds of years ago the penalty for being a pick-pocket was public execution. Pick-pockets would work the crowds that gathered for these executions. It was not that they didn't fear the death penelty, they just didn't believe they would be caught. How many modern day killers do you believe went ahead with the murder because they thought they would "only spend 10 years in prison". I think those who had a lick of sanity proceeded with the murder because they thought they would not get caught. Peopel who commit crimes, generally, think they are smart enough to get away with it. Every year we learn of another person sentenced to life in prison released because new evidence, usually dna evidence, cleared them. Death penelties can't be reversed. Death penelties don't deter criminals. Good police work, increasing the probability of being caught, can deter most sane criminals. This murderers grasp of reality seems tenious at best. I doubt anything, including the death penelty actually enforced, would have detered him.
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rmoore17 says:
Too many of the younger generation today are brainwashed by their teachers and college professors. And guess what bias that would be? Left or right? You tell me.
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rmoore17 says:
Too bad that wildlife officer couldn't have searched that vehicle.
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voiceforsanity replies:
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No probable cause. If he had anything he found would have been thrown out of court. More to the point even if he found a gun and large amounts of ammo that is not a crime. Having no way to know this mans intent there would have been no indication that a crime was about to occur.
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rationall7 says:
I find it interesting that there wasn't any law enforcement on the properity inside or out, I guess that city doesn't use the motto of "Protect & Serve"

You may now return to your political bickering.
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technoreaper says:
LOL, big deal. You can dress up these stories to make anyone look bad. I've had bad experiences in the working world too. Who hasn't? Who are these fruit loop psychologists that think that any person who doesn't live a perfect life is a psycho killer?
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culturechang says:
Well, you know what the knee jerk solutoin to this is.....a law that prohibits verbal warnings. Every stop must result in a fine. This is stupid and it exactly what political correctness will deliver us from the State legislature.
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JavMD says:
wow: DO YOU BELIEVE how many people had a chance to 'prevent' this !

1. The friends who not only knew he was goofy, but some knew he had a gun and doing target practice in the desert !

2. The campus police (5 times)

3. The policeman who stopped him at a red light.

4. The dad who drove after him when he took his duffle bag..
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shazbat34 replies:
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And I'm sure that if any of these people had a crystal ball, and had known what he planned on doing, they would have indeed stepped in the prevent his actions. Thee are hundreds of thousands of people behaving just like him every day.
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