Giffords gets tracheotomy, still improving

TUCSON, Ariz. Saturday, doctors removed Giffords' breathing tube and performed a tracheotomy, freeing her from a ventilator. She remains in intensive care.

The Safeway grocery store where it all began re-opened for the first time since a gunman turned its parking lot into a killing ground. Six people were killed and 13 people, including Giffords, was injured.

There was a moment of silence at the exact time the shooting began. The silence was a stark contrast to the chaos and confusion of last week.

New video of the accused gunman, Jared Loughner, was released. He made a video last September on the grounds of his community college. Loughner is seen just briefly as a ghostly reflection in a glass door.

"His state of mind obviously is completely separated from reality," said ABC consultant Brad Garrett.

At the Crossroads of the West Gun show in Tucson on Saturday, flags flew at half-staff and words of praise were heard for Giffords even as handguns and magazine clips like the ones used to shoot her were flying off the shelves.

In Arizona, one-day handgun sales jumped 60 percent after the shooting.

At an ABC "This Week" town hall meeting, survivors of the shooting relived their ordeal.

"I do remember looking over and seeing Christina and she was quite excited about meeting the congresswoman, jumping up and down, and unfortunately she never made it," one survivor shared about the youngest victim in the rampage, 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green.

After the meeting, 63-year-old Eric Fuller who was wounded twice in the shooting, was arrested after he became agitated and allegedly threatened a man identified as Trent Humphries, a founder of the Tucson Tea Party - who spoke in support of gun ownership.

Meanwhile, there is new information about a life saved, thanks to an organ donation by Christina.

An organ donor network contacted the Green family on Friday, saying her donation had saved the life of a child on the East Coast.

The Boston Globe is quoting Christina's father as saying that child is a young girl in Boston.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2024 KABC Television, LLC. All rights reserved.