Sixty-three-year-old James Eric Fuller, who was shot during last week’s shooting in Arizona and survived, was arrested following a town-hall meeting yesterday for taking a picture of tea party leader Trent Humphries and yelling, “You’re dead!” Fuller apparently became upset after Humphries suggested that conversations about gun control be delayed until all the victims of the shooting were buried. The event was taped for a special edition of ABC’s This Week. Fuller was detained on misdemeanor disorderly conduct and threat charges. Deputies decided he needed a mental-health evaluation, and he was taken to a hospital, which will determine when he will be released.
Yes, Fuller is also the guy who told reporters after the shooting, “It looks like Palin, Beck, Sharron Angle and the rest got their first target.” He had campaigned for Giffords during her reelection. He said he attended the “Congress on Your Corner” event where the shooting occurred to “give [Giffords] a boost and to protect her from the tea party crime syndicate and to shout them down.” Following the shooting, he also remarked, “Why would [Giffords] attend an event in full view of the public with no security whatsoever? She lived under constant fear of this rhetoric and hatred that was seething.”
Since the shooting, Fuller has reportedly been calming himself by writing out the Declaration of Independence, which he memorized 30 years ago. Surprisingly, that didn’t work. Of the threat, Humphries said: “My hope continues to remain that we as a community be allowed the ability to heal and focus on those things that will best help our city and its citizens recover from this deadly tragedy.”
Tucson victim arrested for threat [Politico via Gothamist]
Earlier: Tucson Shooting Victim Is Just Going to Blame This on Sarah Palin Anyway
