Tucson Shooting Victim Says Judge Roll May Have Saved Him, But He Doesn’t Remember
An aide to Congresswoman Gabriel Giffords doesn’t remember Chief Arizona U.S. District Judge John Roll pushing him out of the way during a gunman’s attack in a Tucson supermarket, but he says it’s possible.
The aide, Ronald Barber, knew Roll, who died during the incident, the New York Times reports. They had been friends since attending college together at the University of Arizona. He told the Times that Roll had stopped by Giffords’ meet-and-greet to thank her for sending a letter intended to ease a case overload in his district.
Barber told the Times he saw the shooter fire at Giffords, and then he began spraying the audience with bullets. Barber remembers rolling on his back and looking to his left, where he saw someone giving chest compressions to a victim—a person he believes to have been Roll.
Sheriff’s investigators have said that a video of the shooting shows Roll pushing Barber to move him out of the way. Barber told the Times it’s certainly possible, although he doesn’t remember it.
Barber does remember a woman applying pressure to his wounds. “That’s my angel, that’s for sure,” he told the Times.
