U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords Learns the Tragic Truth of the Tucson Shooting Rampage

Representative Gabrielle Giffords, who is recovering after being shot in the head during the January shooting rampage in Tucson, has been given the details of those who died in the shooting, her spokesman said.

Giffords was told in late July that the dead included her friend U.S. District Judge John Roll, her loyal aide, Gabe Zimmerman and 9-year-old Christina Green.

Giffords had known for some time that six people had been killed in the shooting and 13 others, including herself, had been injured. Towards the end of July, before Giffords went to Congress, she had asked who had died and she was told, said Mark Kimble, Giffords' senior press adviser.

Giffords was in a critical condition after receiving a gunshot wound in her head during a mass shooting that occurred on Jan 8, 2011 , near Tucson, Arizona. The Democrat from Arizona was holding an open constituent meeting in a Casas Adobes Safeway supermarket parking lot, when the gunman drew a pistol and shot Giffords in the head at point blank range. The shooter then allegedly proceeded to randomly fire at other members of the crowd.

Giffords was taken to the hospital and had to undergo an emergency surgery. Part of her skull was removed to prevent further brain damage caused by swelling. Gifford was placed in a medically induced coma and she opened her eyes for the first time, four days after the shooting. Despite her fragile condition, Giffords made a gritty recovery and continued to improve. She was transferred to Memorial Hermann Medical Center's Institute for Rehabilitation and Research in Houston to undergo a program of physical therapy and rehabilitation.

Those close to Giffords had kept the extent of the tragedy from her until she was stronger. She received the news a few days before her Aug. 1 appearance on Capitol Hill to vote on the debt ceiling, another step in her remarkable victory.

Since finding out, Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly called Zimmerman's father to express their condolences.

She still has some trouble with language, but there is no question that she can get her point across and her comprehension is 100 percent, Zimmerman told The Arizona Republic. It was Gabrielle -- it was nice to talk to her.

Kimble said that is unclear whether or what Gifford remembers about the tragic incident. Gifford continues to undergo speech, physical and occupational therapy at the rehabilitation center in Houston.

She has not announced whether she will be running for re-election, though Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Shultz told CBS the day after Giffords came to Congress, that they expect her to come back and help us full time.

The man charged in the Tucson shooting spree, Jared L. Loughner, was sent to a federal prison facility in Springfield, Mo., after a judge concluded that he was incompetent to stand trial on 49 charges.