SAN DIEGO — Jared Loughner, the gunman who gravely wounded former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killed six in a mass shooting last year, was ordered Monday to spend another four months in a federal prison hospital.
According to the Arizona Daily Star, US District Judge Larry A. Burns agreed with a psychologist that Loughner still does not understand the nature or consequences of the charges against him and is not yet competent to stand trial.
In a widely expected move, Burns ordered Loughner to continue his forced regimen of psychotropic medications at the US Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Mo. until June, the newspaper said.
The recommendation came from Christina Pietz, who has been treating the 23-year-old since his incarceration for the shooting rampage, which killed six people and injured 13, including Giffords.
Burns, however, said Loughner is making progress toward becoming competent and that there “is reason to believe he is succeeding and there is reason to be optimistic,” the Star reported.
Loughner has pleaded not guilty to 49 charges against him, which include murder and the attempted assassination of Giffords. He faces the death penalty if convicted.
Giffords stepped down from Congress last month, shortly after the one-year anniversary of the Jan. 8, 2011 shooting, to focus on recovering from the traumatic brain injury she sustained during Loughner’s rampage.
The former congresswoman, who represented the eighth district of Arizona in the US for five years, was holding a public meeting in a Tucson supermarket parking lot when Loughner opened fire. Among the dead was a nine-year-old girl, Christina-Taylor Green.
“Not a day goes by that I don’t feel grief for the lives lost and so many others torn apart,” Giffords said of the victims in a resignation letter read on the House floor.
To fill the vacancy, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has declared that a special primary election will be held on April 17 and the general election on June 12.
The Star also reported Monday that Ron Barber, Giffords’ longtime district manager who was also injured in the shooting, is expected to run in the special election with the former congresswoman’s endorsement.
Four other candidates, including Giffords’ 2010 Republican opponent, Jesse Kelly, have also said they plan to run.