Jared Loughner’s father says son changed after expulsion, job loss

TUCSON -- Jared Loughner’s father described his son as “too smart for his own good” and said he “was just never the same” after he was kicked out of a community college and fired from a mall job, according to investigative records released Wednesday.

Loughner, who pleaded guilty in August in the rampage that killed six and injured 13, was an “outcast” who didn’t have anymore friends, according to his father, Randy Loughner, who was interviewed by authorities a few hours after the shooting.

The father told detectives his son had a life-long friend but refused to say who it was, according to the interview, contained in thousands of pages of previously sealed documents made public by the Pima County Sheriff’s Department.

PHOTOS: Jared Loughner and the tragedy in Tucson

He said that his son was “set off” after he was dismissed from Pima Community College. College officials told Loughner not to return to campus until he had sought medical attention, his father said.

He never did get medical help. He refused to communicate, including with his father.

“I’ve told him.… I didn’t want anything to happen to him. But I tried to talk to him. But, you can’t, he wouldn’t let you,” Randy Loughner said. He said his son was “lost and just didn’t want to communicate” with him anymore.

Loughner’s father said his son managed to hold onto a job for about a year but was fired and struggled for some time after.

“Yeah he ... can’t find … couldn’t find a job,” Randy Loughner said. “He didn’t feel like he should have been fired from the job either.… Just nothing, nothing worked, seemed to go right for him.”

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cindy.carcamo@latimes.com

@thecindycarcamo