Rep. Gabrielle Giffords shot in public

Tucson, Arizona (CNN) -- Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona continued to fight for her life in a Tucson hospital Monday morning as her alleged would-be assassin prepared for his first day in court.

Her alleged shooter, Jared Lee Loughner, 22, is scheduled appear in a Phoenix, Arizona, courtroom at 2 p.m. MT (4 p.m. ET), according to prosecutors.....

It is a sad, sad day in the history of our great nation. Yet another delusion individual obtained a handgun and began shooting innocent people in a public place. More than a dozen people were shot, six killed, including a 9-year-old girl.

Twitter users are reacting to the news with shock and dismay:

@tenones representative gabrielle giffords story. sixteen @nytimes reporters. via national desk. http://t.co/waJQVzk #badass

@druprack Gabrielle Giffords shooting: Frightening, twisted shrine in Arizona killer Jared Lee Loughner's yard: http://soc.li/29Vq43X

@JackSzwergold “They really need to realize that the rhetoric & firing people up … for example, we’re on Palin’s ‘Targeted’ list ...” http://bit.ly/fczICW

@JamesFowlkes Obama will observe a moment of silence at 11 a.m. EST for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D - AZ)

@Hot1077 Arizona’s Innocents Reap What Palin & Company Have Sowed: *The instant Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 18... http://bit.ly/gORg17

@utilityrefund Giffords in critical condition as suspect heads to court: Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords continued to ... http://bit.ly/ePVjMx

@SuseWooz My heart goes out to Gabrielle Giffords, and the other victims who lost their lives.

@TotalVegas Giffords Story: A Lesson In Leaping To Conclusions: The rapidly replicated false report that Rep. Gabrielle Giff... http://bit.ly/hebGVG

@Tornadoes28 Gabrielle Giffords attacker showed contempt for government http://goo.gl/Se62g There R 2 many people with wacko conspiracy theories of gov.

@ricky_john2 Gabrielle Giffords' Shooting: The Impact on Obama's Presidency http://goo.gl/fb/d91pP

@LauraHopeGill Gabrielle Giffords and the rightwing hate machine (on the bogus equivalence between right/left extremism) http://t.co/zpZLdg0 via @peterdaou

@gilangdwiputra Giffords' husband: Little to do but pray: The husband of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is thanking supporters and offe... http://bit.ly/fnpbL2

@UnionUSA Chip Berlet on "The Becking of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords" http://dlvr.it/D2j2M #union

@nationsfilm AMEN!! RT @TIME Who's responsible for the attack on Gabrielle Giffords? We are. It's time to end violence in our public discourse.

@LisaMaatz In Rep. Gabrielle Giffords shooting, U.S. sees evidence of assassination plot http://wapo.st/el8ul4 #somescaryshit

@janestheone Gabrielle Giffords: they're saying US political discourse is responsible. I think it was the crazy man with the gun.

@ebertchicago Gabrielle Giffords' twitter stream. http://twitter.com/#!/rep_giffords