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TUCSON, Ariz. – Jared Loughner's descent into
violence took place on a furious all-night excursion through
the dark streets of his hometown, meandering from one store
to another as he prepared to take revenge on a world from
which he had become progressively alienated.
He checked into a down-and-out motel. He picked up photos
showing him holding a Glock 19 while wearing only a bright
red G-string. He bought ammunition on one of three trips to
two different Walmarts.
He called a high-school pot-smoking buddy, ran away from his
father into a cactus-dotted desert and updated his MySpace
profile to say, "Goodbye friends."
Michelle Martinez ran into Loughner during his rambling
odyssey. She and some friends were hanging out in the
neighborhood when a sullen figure emerged from the darkness
in a black hooded sweatshirt and startled them. Loughner
picked his way through the group rather than walk around
them, offering a deep, distant "What's up?" He then
quickened his pace and disappeared into the darkness.
"I had a feeling he was thinking about something," said
Martinez, who knew Loughner from their school days. "It was
just kind of weird."
The encounter epitomizes Loughner's final hours as he became
increasingly unhinged, culminating with him opening fire on
a crowd of people at an event for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.
Six people were killed and 13 were wounded amid a barrage of
bullets from a Glock 19.
Authorities do not know what pushed the 22-year-old mentally
disturbed loner over the edge, but interviews, records and a
police chronology released Friday provide a fuller picture
of his movements that in many ways reflect his scattered
mind.
It would all play out within a few miles from the modest,
single-story home where he grew up and lived all his life —
save for a brief attempt he made at living in an apartment
by himself.
The chaotic night, according to the official law enforcement
chronology, began at 11:35 p.m. when he dropped off a roll
of 35 mm film at a Walgreens.
In the next hour he stopped at a Circle K gas
station/convenience store and checked into a Motel 6, a
$37.99-a-night spot popular with truckers near a Long John
Silver's and other fast-food restaurants.
If he slept at all that night, it wasn't for long.
At 1:45 a.m., he was back outside his parents' home, where
he ran into Martinez and her friends.
At about 2 a.m., Loughner called an old friend, Bryce
Tierney. They had been confidants in high school but hadn't
talked for months — another in a series of friends with whom
Loughner severed ties amid his increasingly bizarre
behavior.
Loughner used to bang the drums in Tierney's garage while
his friend jammed on the guitar. They used to talk
philosophy, about how the modern world was draining people
of individualism. They got high, as police found out when
they pulled the two over in September 2007 and Tierney
admitted they smoked a joint in a van on the way back from a
convenience store.
Early Saturday, Tierney was up watching a real-life ghost
chasers show on TV. When his cell phone rang, the incoming
number was listed as blocked, so he didn't answer.
Tierney picked up the message immediately. It had a
melancholy tinge: "Hey Bryce, it's Jared. We had some good
times together. Peace out."
After the call, Loughner headed back to the Walgreens, where
— at 2:19 a.m. — he picked up the developed photos. And 15
minutes later, he stopped to make more purchases at yet
another convenience store.
At 4:12 a.m. Loughner was at a computer keyboard in an
unknown location, typing a farewell bulletin on his MySpace
page — "Goodbye friends." Authorities said the photo
included in that posting was from the shots developed at
Walgreens hours earlier.
After one additional stop, at another Circle K, Loughner
began his quest for ammo. His first stop, a Walmart between
his house and the scene of the shooting, doesn't sell
bullets before 7 a.m. It was only 6:12 a.m. He returned at
7:04 a.m., but left the store without making a purchase.
He then drove 5 miles west to a Walmart superstore, where he
purchased 9 mm ammunition and a black, backpack style diaper
bag. It was now 7:27 a.m.
Just three minutes later, he was pulled over for running a
red light in his 1969 dark gray Chevy Nova.
Loughner was cooperative, and the officer from the Arizona
Game and Fish Department took his driver's license and
vehicle registration information. Loughner had no
outstanding warrants and was let go with a warning. And
without a search.
The only thing the officer saw in the car was fast-food
wrappers.
Around 8 a.m., Loughner had returned home. And there was his
father, Randy, who had questions for his son.
The confrontation happened in the driveway.
The son pulled a black bag from the trunk of the Nova; Randy
Loughner demanded to know what was going on.
"The father went out and said, 'What's that?' and he mumbled
something and took off," Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said.
Loughner was desperate to escape. He hustled toward the
corner where he used to catch the school bus with his
neighbor Martinez, then hung a right and a quick left before
entering a sandy wash that runs behind the houses on the
other side of his street, North Soledad Avenue.
Winding his way through the desert scrub and cactus,
Loughner arrived at a dry tributary 300 feet later that
dead-ends into a bigger wash. His father jumped into his
truck to catch up with his son.
But his son had disappeared from view.
Jared Loughner was alone again.
The only clue about the desert pursuit that has turned up is
the black bag recovered Thursday at the intersection of the
two washes. Inside, they found the same caliber of
ammunition Loughner bought at Walmart.
Loughner's escape route took him up the wash, past the back
of a post office, to where the dry stream bed opens into a
broader swath of desert. In this part of suburbia,
brush-choked expanses are never far away.
Eventually, Loughner returned to the Circle K he'd visited
three hours earlier.
He was carrying two extended pistol clips that hold up to 31
bullets, along with two 15-round magazines, a four-inch buck
knife, a Visa card, his driver's license and cash in a
plastic bag.
Authorities said a cab picked him up at 9:41 a.m.
His
destination was a Safeway store — and a violent
confrontation with Gabrielle Giffords. |
