Politics in Arizona in 2011 seem almost a precursor to modern times. That someone tried to assassinate a member of Congress then wasn’t beyond the scope of possibility. In fact, it wasn’t clear at the time to me who the target was, a member of Congress or a federal judge. Thread

On Jan. 8, 2011, I was heading to Mexico to report on a protest and funeral after a cross border shooting in Nogales when a friend who since died called to tell me there’d been a shooting at a Tucson Safeway. I was 45 minutes away when I turned around.

My initial thought was that possibly a federal judge was the target. Judge John Roll was at the Congress on Your Corner event that morning. He was there to thank Rep. Gabrielle Giffords for her support on a project he was vested in.

In the context of 2011, an attack on a federal judge also made sense. Politics in Arizona at the time was tense. Raul Grijalva had closed his Yuma office after someone shattered a window and a bullet was found inside the summer before.

Arizona under Gov. Jan Brewer had just passed SB 1070, the toughest anti-immigrant measure in the country that was widely condemned but also had elements that polled favorably in the USA.

Sarah Palin had drawn up a map of Congressional leaders including Giffords in target cross-hairs. Whether the Tucson shooter knew about the map is in doubt but the context of the climate of 2010 is not.

Almost exactly a month before, a Border Patrol agent was murdered in Southern Arizona in a gunfight with smugglers. The first whispers that the guns the smugglers used had gotten into their hands under the observation of American federal agents was just starting to be understood

Agent Brian Terry died in December. In the context of that era's violence in Mexico, it wasn’t hard to ponder the US was supplying a cartel with weapons to take on more destabilizing cartels. Cartel members were charged with smuggling missiles into Mexico from AZ, for example.

Thousands of guns under Operation Fast and Furious were allowed to disappear. ICE and DEA agents were furious. The ATF was quiet. Again, there was enough context there to firm up suspicions in an already dangerous time, brewing when suddenly a gunman opened fire here

In January, the Border Patrol honored Brian Terry with a service in Tucson while Giffords was driven to a Houston hospital along the same road, cheering Tucsonans lining the roads to wish her well. In an open stadium, an Honor Guard played Amazing Grace for Terry on bagpipes

There was a few moments there where I and the national NPR reporter based in Tucson at the time had to figure out how to split the day’s reporting.

This morning, Giffords wrote: “To achieve a safer America, we must continue our work through the next decade and beyond.”

But also this morning, her op-ed in The New York Times reflected on her concern for her newly elected Senator husband Mark Kelly’s safety as an insurgency stormed the U.S. Capitol. And that was two days ago.

One memory of Jan. 8 ten years ago really stands out for me vividly. I spoke with Giffords’ spokesman at the time, just after an initial, devastating press conference with law enforcement and surgeons in Tucson.

He wasn’t at the Congress on Your Corner event when the shooter opened fire. But he wanted it known that the Congresswoman was performing a basic vital duty that Saturday morning in Tucson:

Listening patiently to her constituents. I remember that maybe most vividly of all. It’s funny what the mind remembers.