E-mails document Tucson suspect's college outbursts -- Documents show numerous troubles

PHOENIX - The college where the Tucson shooting suspect once wasa student on Thursday released a slew of e-mails written in themonths before he was suspended, painting a picture of Jared LeeLoughner as a struggling student with emotional problems whodisturbed others with his odd behavior and by bringing a pocketknifeto class.

Pima Community College was ordered to release 250 e-mails afterThe Arizona Republic sued it for withholding documents mentioningLoughner and a judge rejected the school's argument that the recordswere protected by a federal privacy law.

The e-mails document several outbursts by Loughner while at theschool and efforts by school officials to confront his unusualbehavior. A campus police officer wanted to expel Loughner after hecaused an outburst in a math class in June 2010, but a dean said shewasn't ready to do so and expressed concerns about Loughner's due-process rights.

Three months before the shooting rampage, campus police askedfederal firearms agents to see whether they had any firearmsinformation on Loughner, but the check turned up nothing, accordingto the e-mails.

The apparent final straw was a Sept. 23, 2010, disturbance byLoughner. Campus police records say a teacher asked an officer tomeet her outside her classroom to deal with Loughner because he was"being verbal disruptive." They do not elaborate on what Loughnerallegedly did.

Six days later, officers went to Loughner's home to serve animmediate suspension notice. He was told to get a mental healthevaluation or not return.

Loughner has pleaded not guilty to dozens of federal chargesstemming from the Jan. 8 shooting at a meet-and-greet politicalevent. Six people were killed, including a 9-year-old girl and afederal judge, and 13 people were wounded, including U.S. Rep.Gabrielle Giffords.

He was returned to a federal prison facility in Tucson last monthafter spending five weeks at a Bureau of Prisons facility inMissouri, where he underwent mental exams. A mental competencyhearing is scheduled for Wednesday .

Loughner's lawyers have described their client in court documentsas a "gravely mentally ill man."

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'Gorgeous Gabby' has successful surgery

Scribbled on the helmet protecting Rep. Gabrielle Giffords'injured head was a simple reminder: 5/17/11, the date doctors saidshe could take it off for the last time.

Now, a day after successful surgery to repair her skull, thehelmet adorned with the Arizona state flag that she has worn sinceshe was shot in the head in January is finally gone.

She is awake, communicating and doing bedside therapy. And hernew look has earned her a nickname.

"I started calling her Gorgeous Gabby today," said Dr. Dong Kim,the neurosurgeon who performed the operation. "She hasn't looked inthe mirror yet, but as soon as she does she'll be very pleased."

Giffords' astronaut husband, Mark Kelly, is in space and couldn'tsee her. But he closely followed the intricate, 3 1/2 -hour surgery,talking to his brother and mother-in-law by Internet phone on theInternational Space Station and e-mailing doctors.

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