REPRESENTATIVE GIFFORDS' FIRST PUBLIC PHOTO SINCE THE TRAGIC SHOOTING!

After the Shooting

Two pictures of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) were released Sunday, showing the congresswoman with a smile and shorter hair as she recovers from a point-blank shooting sustained during a constituency event in January.


The pictures show Giffords at Houston's TIRR Memorial Hermann Hospital on May 17 -- the day after the launch of the space shuttle Endeavour, commanded by her husband, and the day before her cranioplasty. In them, she is wearing glasses, a purple top and a mauve top-stitched jacket with a colorful lining.
Photographer P.K. Weiss, of SouthwestPhotoBank.com, has known Giffords for over 10 years.

"Any photographer in the country would have loved the opportunity to take these pictures, and I was delighted to be asked ... her staff asked me to do it because she wanted someone who was not a stranger -- someone she would be comfortable around. The photos were taken in her room and in an outside area of the hospital," Weiss said.

Before the Shooting

He added, "It was very inspiring to see how much she had recovered in four and a half months. I was excited to see her and to see her smile. She was glad to see me, was in a good mood, smiling and laughing and seemed to enjoy the experience. I certainly did, too."

Giffords began rehabilitation Jan. 26 in Houston after being shot in the head outside a Tucson, Ariz., supermarket during a Jan. 8 meeting with constituents. Six people were killed, and 13 were injured, including the congresswoman.

Giffords will leave the rehabilitation center to begin outpatient treatment before the end of June, her spokesman said Saturday.

Read more: http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news/politics/110612-congresswoman-gabrielle-giffords-photos##ixzz1P4rbvVH4