- Loughner appeared 'robotic' but was 'definitely comprehending everything'
- He is assigned lawyer Judy Clarke from Oklahoma City bombing case
- More than a dozen U.S. marshals guard the courtroom
- Shooter 'stalked other targets'
- Investigators 'examining link between Loughner and Washington explosives'
He was handcuffed, his head shaved and his face impassive - and there was a cut on his right temple.
Jared Lee Loughner appeared in a Phoenix court this afternoon wearing a tan inmate jumpsuit.
As he walked in, he looked straight at the crowd. His lawyer Judy Clarke, who defended Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, whispered to him.
The courtroom was under heavy guard with about more than a dozen U.S. marshals.
Chilling: Tucson shooting suspect Jared Lee Loughner's mug shot
Impassive: A courtroom sketch shows Jared Lee Loughner, left, appearing before a judge for the first time in Arizona today
Escort: A van carrying Jared Loughner leaves the Sandra Day O'Connor courthouse in Phoenix, Arizona after his appearance today
The 22-year-old accused of gunning down six innocent people in a botched assassination attempt on U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords seemed 'robotic' - but onlookers said he appeared to be comprehending everything that was happening.
Loughner has been provided with the lawyer who defended Oklahoma City bombing suspect Timothy McVeigh.
His trial will be held in Arizona - but all Arizona judges have recused themselves from presiding over it, meaning an outside judge will have to be brought in.
Cryptic: A skull sits surrounded by rotting fruit near burnt candles at what appears to be a makeshift altar at Jared Loughner's Tucson home
'Robotic': Left, another court sketch of Loughner appearing before the judge today. Right, an image of the suspect as a high school student
Arizona federal judge John Roll was one of the gunman's victims.
Witnesses said there did not appear to be any friends or family - such as his parents - in the Sandra Day O'Connor Courthouse in Phoenix supporting Loughner this afternoon.
None of the victims' family members were present either.
Loughner seemed nervous, a CNN reporter said, but answer clearly and in a strong voice when U.S. Magistrate Judge Lawrence Anderson asked him to confirm his name.
Unassuming: A large tree and a cactus plant frame the Tucson home of Jared Loughner
The backyard of Loughner's house. Investigators found a makeshift shrine and letters referring to Mrs Giffords there
He appeared to be understanding and answering his lawyer's questions.
He is not due to appear in court again until a preliminary hearing on January 24.
Loughner made his brief appearance today more details of his troubled past emerged.
THREAT TO ASTRONAUT HUSBAND'S SPACE MISSION
The consequences of the Arizona shooting spree have echoed as far as space.
Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords’ husband Mark Kelly, pictured with her below, is an astronaut with Nasa, as is his identical twin brother Scott.
While Scott is currently on board the International Space Station, Mark is scheduled to launch in April as shuttle commander of the Endeavour.
However, his place on the mission is now in jeopardy as he stays at his wife’s hospital bedside.
In a statement, Mark Kelly expressed gratitude for the outpouring of support their family has received, adding that it was important to remember those who died in the shooting.
He said: ‘Many of you have offered help. There is little that we can do but pray for those who are struggling.’
Meanwhile his brother did his best to keep updated on the situation through Mission Control, the internet and the lone phone aboard the space station.
He told Mission Control in Houston: ‘We have a unique vantage point here aboard the International Space Station.
'As I look out the window I see a very beautiful planet that seems very inviting and peaceful.
'Unfortunately it is not.’
He also sent a message from space via Twitter: ‘My sister-in-law, Gabrielle Giffords, is a kind, compassionate, brilliant woman, loved by friends and political adversaries alike – a true patriot.
‘What is going on in our country that such a good person can be the subject of such senseless violence?’
Officials from Nasa said on Sunday that it was premature to speculate on whether Mark Kelly would step down as commander of the Endeavour.
He was suspended from community college in Tucson after five encounters with campus police between February and September last year, the Mail has learned.
His behaviour so frightened his classmates that they became convinced he was on the edge of a violent breakdown.
He was also arrested twice on separate drug and graffiti offences.
Lynda Sorenson, 52, who shared an algebra class with Loughner, had painted a disturbing picture of him in emails to friends, writing: ‘We have a mentally unstable person in the class that scares the living c**p out of me.
‘He is one of those whose picture you see on the news, after he has come into class with an automatic weapon.’
Acquaintances said he was obsessed with the Mayan prophecy of a 2012 apocalypse and mind control.
A sinister-looking shrine with a skull and candles was found yesterday behind a camouflage tent in his garden, raising the possibility that he also dabbled in satanic rituals.
Police said Loughner would have been refused a gun licence only if convicted of a ‘serious’ criminal offence.
But Noel Hentschel, a former mental health adviser for the UK Royal Society of Medicine, called the shooting ‘a critical breakdown of mental health care in America’.
She wrote yesterday: ‘The bar is so high for proving someone is a threat to themselves or to others that they literally have to already be in the middle of a horrendous act like this vicious attack for law enforcement, family or medical professionals to be able to provide treatment to the disturbed person.
'What a travesty of justice for all concerned!’
FBI sources said Loughner had refused to give any reason for Saturday’s killings.
Agents believe he had developed a festering and irrational hatred of Democrat Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords after she failed to answer his question – ‘What is government if words have no meaning?’ – at a political rally at his college two years ago.
Miss Giffords was still said to be in a critical condition today, though doctors said they were ‘optimistic’ about her chances of survival.
She was able to move her fingers in response to simple commands, but fears remained that the bullet that went right through her brain may have caused lasting brain damage, possibly leaving her unable to speak.
Saving her life: Mrs Giffords is whisked away by paramedics, who saved her life by getting her into an operating theatre at hospital just 38 minutes after the attack
Survivors: Left, U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was the target of the shooting. Right, Patricia Maisch, who was in line to meet Mrs Giffords at the event, and who wrestled the ammunition out of the gunman's hands, preventing him from reloading
Loughner has been charged by federal prosecutors with the attempted assassination of Mrs Giffords, the murder of two federal employees including a judge, and the attempted murder of two others.
He may still face state charges for the murder of four other innocent bystanders, including nine-year-old Christina-Taylor Green.
Loughner has not yet entered a plea to any of the charges. Authorities have said he is invoking his right not to speak.
Silence: White House staff join the President and his wife for a minute's silence today to remember the victims of the Tucson shooting
Mark of respect: Flags flew at half-mast today in Washington and across the country today in memory of those killed and wounded in Saturday's tragedy
Today it emerged that authorities are considering the possibility that Loughner was behind the explosive packages sent to various places in Washington and Maryland last week.
Two packages detonated in Maryland state buildings last week, and one more in Washington, DC a day later.
GWYNETH PALTROW'S SADNESS
Gwyneth Paltrow has spoken out against the ‘senseless violence’ in the Tucson shooting that has left Gabrielle Giffords, her second cousin, fighting for life.
The Hollywood star – whose father, the late Bruce Paltrow, is a first cousin of Miss Giffords’ father – issued a statement saying: ‘Although I have never had the pleasure of meeting Congresswoman Giffords, my thoughts and prayers are with her and her family as well as the other victims of this horrible act of senseless violence.’
It also emerged that another actress, Sophia Bush, is a cousin of nine-year-old Christina Green, the youngest victim.
Miss Bush, a star of U.S. drama One Tree Hill, wrote on Twitter: ‘There are no words to explain what my cousin’s family is going through.’
All emitted the smell of sulphur, smoke, and a small burst of flame. Only one person was injured, an employee whose hands were singed as the package was opened.
Now an unnamed New York Post source is claiming that investigators are finding the timing of the packages in conjunction with the shooting 'odd'.
The source claimed that the FBI, Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security are trying to rule Loughner out as a suspect within the next two days.
More details of the previous threats that Loughner has made against others emerged today.
One couple described how he showed up at their home last summer and stared creepily inside.
'It was the look of pure evil,' Susan Ward told the New York Daily News.
'Every hair on my body went up. He just kept staring at me and smiling.'
Mrs Ward and her husband Norman had just moved in to the house, which had previously been occupied by Lynda Sorenson, the woman who had helped get Loughner expelled from his community college.
Ms Sorenson, 52, had been in Loughner's maths class at Pima Community College. She warned the teacher last June that Loughner seemed to be the type who could carry out a school shooting.
She told friends he 'scared the living crap out of me'.
The Wards believe Loughner was trying to get his revenge on Ms Sorenson, not realising that she no longer lived in the house.
Click to enlarge
Mrs Ward said he stared through her window for a long time, looking at her with a slight smile.
'He looked crazy as hell, but at the same time he looked like a little kid,' she told the New York Daily News.
Then, even more chillingly, Lougher went behind the house to stare - and wave - at her husband.
'I was very afraid,' Mr Ward admitted. 'Something about him really bothered me.
'He was fearless. He just kept staring at me.'
Mrs Ward confessed the experience had left her so shaken that she spent the night in a hotel. And, she admitted: 'I went out and bought a gun.'
A portrait emerged from friends of Loughner of a meek sax player in the high school band who had trouble forming relationships with classmates and girls in general.
At school, he once turned up for class drunk on tequila and often smoked marijuana in the bathrooms.
Later in college, one student told how Loughner grabbed his crotch during a poetry class and galloped around the room reading poems about mundane tasks like showering and taking the bus.
In another incident, he burst out laughing while a female classmate read a very personal poem about abortion.
Loughner allegedly bought the Glock pistol used in Saturday's attack at Sportsman's Warehouse in Tucson, in November.
Court documents also show that Loughner had contact with Democrat Ms Giffords, 40, in the past. Other evidence included a letter on her official stationery in which she thanked him for attending a Congress on your Corner event at a mall in Tucson in 2007.
Ms Giffords was shot in the head at about 10am at her first Congress on your Corner event of 2011 as she was meeting constituents outside a Tuscon supermarket.
Pima County sheriff Clarence Dupnik said yesterday that Loughner acted alone.
Court papers detailing the federal charges against Loughner (click to enlarge)
Loughner fired at Ms Giffords' district director and shot indiscriminately at staffers and others standing in line to talk to the congresswoman, said Mark Kimble, her communications aide.
'He was not more than three or four feet from the congresswoman and the district director,' Mr Kimble said, describing the scene as 'just complete chaos, people screaming, crying'.
A 61-year-old woman and a 74-year-old retired colonel were hailed as heroes after tussling with Loughner to prevent him claiming even more innocent lives.
The pair helped wrestle Loughner to the ground, prompting him to squeal: ‘You’re hurting me!’
Patricia Maisch, 61, grabbed a magazine of ammunition away from Loughner as he tried to reload.
‘I thought I would be shot,’ she said. But she insisted last night: ‘I am not a hero. The other guys are. I just assisted getting the clip.’
Vietnam veteran Bill Badger, 74 – who was grazed in the back of the neck by one of the gunman’s bullets – knocked Loughner down with the help of bystanders Roger Sulzberger and Joseph Zimudie.
Mrs Maisch said Loughner shot the woman next to her.
‘I was waiting to see if I got shot, and wondering how a gun wound would feel,’ she said.
President Obama led America in a minute’s silence yesterday to mourn the victims.
He said the nation was ¬‘grieving and shocked’.
Loughner is accused of killing six people, including a federal judge, an aide to Miss Giffords and a nine-year-old girl born on September 11, 2001.
Fourteen others were wounded, including Miss Giffords.
Yesterday mourners crammed into the tiny sanctuary of Ms Giffords' synagogue in Tucson to pray for her quick recovery and outside the hospital, candles flickered at a makeshift memorial. People also left flowers, American flags and pictures of Ms Giffords.
Those killed were nine-year-old Christina-Taylor Green; Judge Roll, 63; Giffords aide Gabe Zimmerman, 30; Dorothy Morris, 76; Dorwin Stoddard, 76; and Phyllis Schneck, 79.
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