TUCSON — Five days after she was shot in the head at close range, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is able to keep her eyes open for as long as 15 minutes and can move her legs and hands, although her right hand has only slight movement, doctors at University Medical Center said Thursday.
Doctors called her progress “a major leap forward” but expressed caution, saying that for now, they would not upgrade Giffords from critical condition. Dr. Peter Rhee, head of trauma at the hospital, said the team planned to bring in experts to help assess the injuries to the bones around Giffords’ eyes that could have damaged her vision.
“I believe one day she will be able to think,” Rhee said. “What she will be able to do physically, it is too early to say.”
On Saturday, Giffords was meeting with constituents in a Tucson parking lot when a gunman opened fire, killing six people and wounding 13, including Giffords.
The county sheriff’s department said Thursday that it had recovered a black bag containing ammunition that might belong to the suspect, Jared Loughner, 22. Loughner, according to police, grabbed a similar bag out of one of his family’s vehicles Saturday, hours before the shooting. A hiker found the bag while walking his dog Thursday.
Also, NASA announced it was appointing a backup leader for the space shuttle mission to be headed by Giffords’ husband, Mark E. Kelly, allowing the crew to continue training and Kelly to “focus on his wife’s care.” The New York Times
