TUCSON – A victim of last week’s Arizona shooting rampage was arrested on Saturday and ordered to undergo a mental evaluation after threatening a Tea Party leader during the taping of a television show, police said.
James Eric Fuller (63), who was shot in the knee on January 8th, objected to comments from Trent Humphries, leader of the conservative Tea Party political movement in Tucson, during taping of a town hall meeting organised for an ABC News special programme on the aftermath of the shootings.
Mr Fuller stood, turned and snapped a picture of Mr Humphries, said Pima County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Jason Ogan. “Then he yelled at him and said, ‘You’re dead,’” Mr Ogan said.
Deputies arrested Mr Fuller on charges of disorderly conduct and making a threat.
After consultation with a doctor, deputies then took him to a local hospital for an involuntary evaluation, Mr Ogan said.
Mr Fuller was one of 13 people injured when a gunman opened fire during a gathering of constituents of US congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Six people died, including a federal judge and a nine-year-old girl.
The congresswoman began breathing without a ventilator yesterday as doctors replaced it with a tracheotomy tube in her windpipe. – (Reuters)