Suspect’s parents express grief and bewilderment

As Tucson scrambled to prepare for President Obama’s scheduled appearance at a memorial service for the victims of the weekend’s mass shooting, the parents of the alleged gunman, Jared Lee Loughner, offered their first public statement Tuesday, insisting that the attack left them as perplexed as anyone else.

From the home they shared with their son in a working-class neighborhood, Randy and Amy Loughner released a statement calling it “a very difficult time” and speaking of their deep sorrow.

“There are no words that can possibly express how we feel. We wish that there were, so that we could make you feel better,” the Loughners said. “We don’t understand why this happened. It may not make any difference but we wish that we could change the heinous events of Saturday. We care very deeply about the victims and their families. We are so very sorry for their loss.”

The alleged gunman’s motives for shooting Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 18 others remain unclear, though friends said he had grown increasingly paranoid. One told The Times that Loughner was influenced by films alleging that the collection of income tax is illegal and that the terrorist attacks of 2001 were staged by the government.

A law enforcement official said Tuesday that a note was found in Loughner’s safe that said: “Die, Bitch.”

Later Tuesday, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department corrected its tally of the wounded. Nineteen people were shot, the department said, not 20, as had been reported. Six died, and 13 were wounded.

And Giffords’ congressional office released photos of the lawmaker and her husband, astronaut Mark E. Kelly, holding hands in her hospital room. The photos were taken Sunday, Giffords’ office said.

The images added a poignancy to Arizona’s latest turn in the national stage.

Some critics, angered by the state’s aggressive anti-immigration stance and right-leaning politics, have pointed to the shootings as evidence that Arizona is a place of intolerance and Tombstone justice.

But there was also a rising sentiment and determination here that Arizona’s latest appearance in the spotlight will be a chance for a recalibration of the state’s image.

The state has mustered an immediate and unified response, for instance, to reports that Westboro Baptist Church of Kansas was planning to picket the funerals of shooting victims.

Tucson’s Democratic and Republican parties joined together to organize a blockade of counter-protesters, and Gov. Jan Brewer signed legislation restricting funeral protests — a bill that sailed through the normally rancorous state Legislature with ease.

“I think it took a tragedy for the rest of the world to see how much compassion and unity there is in Tucson,” said Christin Gilmer, 26, who used to work for Giffords. At Gilmer’s direction, supporters of the victims will line funeral processions wearing white wings to shield the families from the sight of the church picketers.

“I’m sorry it took a tragedy to show what a tight-knit, strong community we will always be here,” she said.

Bill Hileman, at a public appearance Tuesday at the hospital where his wife is recovering from bullet wounds, delivered an impromptu tribute not just to the shooting victims, but to his adopted state.

Hileman said he and his wife, Susan, recently retired and spent two years searching the nation for the perfect community to make their home. They picked Tucson.

Susan Hileman had taken a young neighbor, who had been elected to her elementary school student council, to meet their congresswoman. When the gunman opened fire, Hileman, 58, was hit three times. She survived, but her young friend, 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green, was shot in the chest and killed.

Hileman noted that he was sitting in the waiting room of the hospital at one point when a minister wandered in from the street to offer him comfort. “That’s my Tucson,” he said.

Obama is scheduled to arrive Wednesday for a public memorial. The president’s visit will come two days after Loughner appeared in federal court and was charged with five federal crimes, including the attempted assassination of Giffords and the murder of John M. Roll, Arizona’s chief federal judge, who was caught in the spray of bullets.

Additional state charges are expected; Loughner could face the death penalty.

Wednesday’s memorial service at the University of Arizona’s McKale Center is open to the public, although security will be tight. A protester brought an assault rifle to one of the president’s previous visits to Arizona, and a pastor here once prayed publicly for Obama’s death.

A crowd of as many as 14,000 was expected to join the president and First Lady Michelle Obama, U.S. Sen. John McCain, university President Robert N. Shelton and others.

Many in Arizona are hoping the service will be an opportunity to begin healing, even if some remain incensed with the portrayal of their state.

“After Columbine, did people say [ Colorado] was responsible? Or Virginia after Virginia Tech?” asked Jay Tibshraeny, mayor of the Phoenix suburb of Chandler and a former state legislator. “You’ve got nuts in every state. And, unfortunately, every state is being touched by these tragedies.”

Meanwhile, new fragments emerged about Loughner’s life.

He lived with his parents near Interstate 10, north of downtown Tucson. The home, more than any other on Soledad Avenue, is landscaped with plants native to the nearby Sonoran Desert, including cholla, nopal and saguaro cactus.

Loughner’s mother, Amy, appears to have been the family’s primary breadwinner. According to the human relations director of the Pima County Parks and Recreation Department, Amy Loughner is a manager of a park in northeast Tucson on the site of a hot spring once used as a resort. She earns $25.69 an hour.

Jared Loughner was periodically seen walking his dog, Hannah, around the neighborhood. But neighbors said the family had grown increasingly reclusive. George Gayan, 82, a retired copper mine mechanic who lives next door, said Loughner’s father once refurbished old cars, giving them something to talk about.

But in more recent years, he said, “it got so there was less and less interaction.” Randy Loughner eventually built a wall around his house, indicating to Gayan that he wanted privacy.

Jared Loughner, meanwhile, had repeatedly exhibited unusual behavior. George Osler, 45, whose son Zachary was friends with Loughner, said he thought Loughner, who was picked on in high school and devastated by a breakup with a girlfriend, had distanced himself from reality and was abusing drugs.

“He was a little odd,” Osler said. “You just have a suspicion — keep a close eye on this guy in case he’s up to something.”

Osler said Loughner had become drawn to movies that delved into fringe political conspiracy theories, such as “America: Freedom to Fascism,” which claims that the income tax system is illegitimate, and “Loose Change,” which asserts that the federal government had a role in the Sept. 11 attacks.

“It was like part of him wanted to create an alternate reality,” Osler said.

Near the end of 2008, hoping to join the military, Loughner swore off cigarettes, drugs and alcohol, cut his hair and started dressing more conservatively and working out, Osler said. But the military rejected his application; Loughner was “devastated,” Osler said.

“He just slowly spiraled into madness,” Osler said.

seema.mehta@latimes.com

sam.quinones@latimes.com

scott.gold@latimes.com

Times staff writers Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Nicholas Riccardi and Nicole Santa Cruz in Tucson, Rong-Gong Lin II and Rick Rojas in Los Angeles and Richard A. Serrano in Washington contributed to this report.