New Details About Gunman in Gabrielle Giffords Shooting

In the 2,700 pages of documents released by Arizona authorities today from the shooting of former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, there are some new details about the gunman, provided by his parents.

The documents reveal that Jared Loughner had grown increasingly erratic and delusional in the months leading up to the rampage. He alienated friends and family, and became paranoid that police were out to get him.

Amy Loughner, the gunman's mother, said she'd sometimes see or hear him having conversations, when he was alone.

His father, Randy Loughner, told police, "I tried to talk to him. But you can't. He wouldn't let you."  But he said his 24-year-old son had never been diagnosed with mental illness.

Despite recommendations from officials at a community college where he was expelled that he undergo a mental evaluation, his parents didn't follow up. They did, however, become worried enough about him to have him tested for drugs. Those tests were negative.

Loughner opened fire outside a Tucson supermarket in 2011, killing six people and wounding 12 others, including Giffords. He entered a guilty plea that enabled him to avoid the death penalty, and is now serving his sentence at a federal prison medical facility in Missouri where he was diagnosed with schizophrenia.

(Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

GIFFORDS: LOUGHNER SHOULD HAVE NEVER HAD GUN ACCESS

Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords says the release of police reports in the Tucson rampage that seriously wounded her shows that the "mentally disturbed" shooter should have never had access to a gun.

Giffords says not a day goes by without her thinking of the meet-and-greet event outside a Tucson supermarket and all those affected by the shooting in January 2011 that left six dead.

Jared Lee Loughner was sentenced last November to seven consecutive life sentences, plus 140 years, after he pleaded guilty to 19 federal charges.

In a statement released Wednesday by the gun control advocacy group she started with her husband, Giffords says "no one piece of legislation will end all gun violence." But she hopes "commonsense policies like universal background checks" are enacted.

(Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)