By , ,
Published December 23, 2015
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., was shot in Arizona Saturday and is currently in intensive care and officials say they are optimistic about her condition. She was shot at a "Your Corner" event in Tucson where authorities say at least five people were killed and 19 injured.
Here's some historical perspective on members of Congress who have been shot or killed in the past:
Rep. Leo Ryan was the last member who was shot. He was shot in 1987 before the Jim Jones mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana.
Six Members of Congress have been murdered. Sens. Huey Long in 1935 and Robert Kennedy in 1968.
Five members of Congress were shot in the US House chamber when Puerto Rican nationalists shot up the House chamber on March 21, 1954.
I should note that former Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-PA) who just lost...was a House page at the time and was on the front page of Life Magazine, helping carry out shooting victims from the House chamber and down the House steps.
Earlier this year lawmakers received some threatening phone calls and e-mails to their offices on Capitol Hill in the wake of the health care debate, some of the callers were even threatening to kill their congressman. Read here for more on that.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/historical-perspective-on-members-of-congress-shot-or-killed