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NY Times January 11, 2011 Loughner Grew More Paranoid in Last Year, Friend Says By SERGE F. KOVALESKI, MARC LACEY AND TIMOTHY WILLIAMS Jared L. Loughner’s behavior had become increasingly erratic over the last year, underscored by his fear that two of his closest friends were planning to kill him, one of those friends said Tuesday. “He did not have many friends,” said Zane Gutierrez, 21, who met Mr. Loughner in high school. “We stopped talking to him in March of 2010. He started getting weird.” Mr. Loughner has been charged with opening fire at a Tucson supermarket on Saturday as Representative Gabrielle Giffords, Democrat of Arizona, was meeting constituents. Six people were killed in the shooting and 14 were injured, including Ms. Giffords, the apparent main target of the attack. Mr. Gutierrez’s descriptions of Mr. Loughner’s behavior provide new insight into his mental state. Mr. Loughner’s parents were expected to make their first public comments since the shooting on Tuesday afternoon. Mr. Gutierrez said Mr. Loughner would call me at 2 a.m. and ask, “Are you hanging out in front of the house, stalking me?” “He started to get really paranoid, and said he did not want to see us anymore and did not trust us,” Mr. Gutierrez said. “He thought we were plotting to kill him or steal his car or something,” Mr. Gutierrez added. “It got worse over time.” Mr. Gutierrez said Mr. Loughner had mentioned Ms. Giffords only once, saying that he had been unhappy with how she had responded to a question he asked at a public appearance about the nature of government. Mr. Gutierrez said Mr. Loughner had shown little interest in politics. “He was a nihilist and loves causing chaos, and that is probably why he did the shooting, along with the fact he was sick in the head,” he said. Mr. Gutierrez said one of their favorite activities was to shoot cans in the desert. “He was a damn great shot,” he said, adding: “If he had a gun pointed at me, there is nothing I could do because he would make it count. He was quick with a gun.” “I go to a psychiatrist, and he should have been seeing one back in high school,” Mr. Gutierrez said. “He had the most incredible thoughts, but he could not handle them.” (snip) ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: [email protected] Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
