A veteran city firefighter's refusal to respond to the Jan. 8 shooting spree, citing "political bantering," may have slowed his Tucson Fire Department unit's response to the incident that left six dead and 13 wounded, city memos show. 
 
 The firefighter, Mark Ekstrum, retired from his 28-year career two days later, while his supervisors were still considering how to discipline him, internal memos obtained by the Arizona Daily Star in a public-records request show. 
 
 In a Jan. 9 report on Ekstrum's actions, fire Capt. Ben Williams wrote that when Ekstrum first told him he would not go out on the call, "he mentioned something about 'political bantering' and he did not want to be part of it." He said he was acting "for the good of the crew." 
 
 Williams said he told Ekstrum he could not refuse a call for that reason, and then talked to the firefighter privately in his office. He said Ekstrum "started to say something about how he had a much different political viewpoint than the rest of the crew and he was concerned." Despite being told that was not acceptable, Williams said Ekstrum informed him he was going home "sick," so they answered the call without him. 
 
 In a statement provided to the Fire Department late Wednesday, after he was contacted by the Star about the incident, Ekstrum said he was distraught over the shootings and had no problem with U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who is recovering from a bullet wound to the brain, and even voted for her in the last election. 
 
 Ekstrum was on duty at a station on the far southeast side and was part of a team specially trained to handle large medical emergencies. While the crew was not among those called first to the shooting scene - they were not dispatched until about 90 minutes after the shootings - a memo from Ekstrum's supervisor said his actions caused "confusion and delay" in the emergency circumstances. The department previously sent several paramedic units to the Safeway at North Oracle Road and West Ina Road. 
 
 The Fire Department later backtracked from that statement, saying Ekstrum's actions caused delay during the preparatory process, but did not cause a delay of the actual call. 
 
 However, one of the fire engines had to stop at another fire station to pick up personnel to take Ekstrum's place. 
 
 Crews at Tucson Fire's Station 6,10251 S. Wilmot Road, were dispatched at 12:03 p.m. Jan. 8, seven minutes after the last patient arrived at the hospital, said Joe Gulotta, an assistant fire chief. They responded as a support crew, in a non-emergency way with the Metropolitan Medical Response System (MMRS), a large delivery truck with tents, medical supplies, water and cots, used after the shootings to assist those who were not seriously injured. 
 
 Williams said he told Ekstrum they all have differences, but they put those differences aside and respond as professionals, the memo said. However, Ekstrum said "I'm leaving, I am going home," the memo said, and Williams said at that time he realized arguing was pointless and time was wasting so he told Ekstrum to go. 
 
 After the crew returned from the call, Ekstrum was waiting at the station with his wife and asked if he could come in to apologize to the crew, the memo said. The crew accepted his apology, and then Williams talked in his office with Ekstrum and his wife. 
 
 "He stated that there were underlying issues regarding the call that brought up a lot of anger and made him ineffective as a firefighter," the memo said. "I told him that as his captain I had lost confidence in his future ability to perform his duties. He stated that he felt this call was unique and did not think this would happen again." 
 
 When contacted at his house Wednesday, and later by telephone, Ekstrum declined to comment. 
 
 However, in the statement he submitted to the department late Wednesday - a statement the department was not expecting - he said he was distraught over the shootings and was "distracted to the point of not being able to perform my routine station duties to such an extent that I seriously doubted my ability to focus on an emergency call." 
 
 He said he failed to effectively communicate that was the reason he needed to go home and "my communication centered more on how this event would affect the country and them and us, and, of course, led to their misunderstanding about my need to go home because I was at a point of distraction." 
 
 Ekstrum said he realized the next day, "I had crossed a line with myself in relation to our citizens. I should have been there, regardless of how responsible I was attempting to be from the standpoint of distraction." 
 
 Ekstrum said he decided to retire right then, without knowing that the Tucson Fire Department was starting a disciplinary action against him. 
 
 He said in his statement that he voted for Giffords in the last election, and spoke with her early on in her tenure about a communication vehicle that TFD had for mass-casualty incidents. "She asked many pertinent and intelligent questions," Ekstrum said. "She has always impressed me as a person that was willing to listen." 
 
 Ekstrum has been registered as an independent since 1999, Pima County Recorder's Office records show, after being registered as a Democrat for the previous 17 years. He did not appear to be very politically active. The records show he hadn't voted in a primary election in 28 years and his name couldn't be found in campaign finance records as a donor. 
 
 Williams recommended a 20-day suspension, the maximum sanction for a first time offense. In his memo, he said, "I look forward to getting past this incident so that we may work together again in the future." 
 
 However, Gulotta initially said Ekstrum's behavior fit the "most egregious category in our discipline matrix," and he likely would have faced termination if he had not retired. 
 
 But later, after seeing Ekstrum's Wednesday statement, Gulotta said the department's reaction to Ekstrum's actions would have been different. It would have first sent him to a city doctor to measure his fitness for duty and then could have simply disciplined him, or potentially fired him, but Gulotta said exactly what would have happened is unknown. 
 
 Fire Union President Roger Tamietti declined to comment on Ekstrum because Ekstrum was not a member of the fire union. 
 
 In his 28 years with Tucson Fire, Ekstrum had positive reviews and was given "exceed standards" on most of his evaluations. Williams said in his memo that Ekstrum's work ethic and performance had been exemplary and professional. 
 
 In early 2010, Ekstrum used two weeks' vacation time to volunteer in Haiti and help the victims of the earthquake, according to his personnel file. 
 
 He was only reprimanded once, an oral reprimand in 1984 for backing his vehicle into an object, Gulotta said. 
 
 City Manager Mike Letcher said the department took the appropriate action over the Jan. 8 incident, but he is concerned his office didn't know about it until this week. 
 
 On StarNet: Read more about the shooting and its aftermath at azstarnet.com/giffords 
 
 Contact reporter Fernanda Echavarri at fechavarri@azstarnet.com or 573-4224. Contact reporter Rob O'Dell at rodell@azstarnet.com or 573-4346. ||||| Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona was shot in the head Saturday when an assailant opened fire outside a grocery store during a meeting with constituents, killing six people and wounding 13 others. 
 
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 The assassination attempt left Giffords in critical condition -- the bullet went straight through her brain -- but the hospital said her outlook was "optimistic" and that she was responding to commands from doctors. The hospital said a 9-year-old child was among the killed, and a U.S. Marshal said a federal judge was also fatally shot in the attack. 
 
 Giffords spokesman C.J. Karamargin said three Giffords staffers were shot in the attack. One died, and the other two are expected to survive. Gabe Zimmerman, a former social worker who served as Giffords' director of community outreach, died. 
 
 Giffords, 40, is a moderate Democrat who narrowly won re-election in November against a tea party candidate who sought to throw her from office over her support of the health care law. Anger over her position became violent at times, with her Tucson office vandalized after the House passed the overhaul last March and someone showing up at a recent gathering with a weapon. 
 
 Police say the shooter was in custody, and was identified by people familiar with the investigation as Jared Lee Loughner, 22. U.S. officials who provided his name to the AP spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release it publicly. 
 
 It's still not clear if Loughner had the health care debate in mind or was focused on his own unique set of political beliefs, many outlined in rambling videos and postings on the Internet. 
 
 Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik described the gunman as mentally unstable and possibly acting with an accomplice. He said Giffords was among 13 people wounded in the melee that killed six people, including a 9-year-old girl, an aide for the Democratic lawmaker and U.S. District Judge John Roll, who had just stopped by to see his friend Giffords after celebrating Mass. Dupnik said the rampage ended only after two people tackled the gunman. 
 
 The sheriff blamed the vitriolic political rhetoric that has consumed the country, much of it centered in Arizona. 
 
 "When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government. The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous," he said. "And unfortunately, Arizona, I think, has become the capital. We have become the mecca for prejudice and bigotry." 
 
 Giffords expressed similar concern, even before the shooting. In an interview after her office was vandalized, she referred to the animosity against her by conservatives, including Sarah Palin's decision to list Giffords' seat as one of the top "targets" in the midterm elections. 
 
 "For example, we're on Sarah Palin's targeted list, but the thing is, that the way that she has it depicted has the crosshairs of a gun sight over our district. When people do that, they have to realize that there are consequences to that action," Giffords said in an interview with MSNBC. 
 
 In the hours after the shooting, Palin issued a statement in which she expressed her "sincere condolences" to the family of Giffords and the other victims. 
 
 During his campaign effort to unseat Giffords in November, Republican challenger Jesse Kelly held fundraisers where he urged supporters to help remove Giffords from office by joining him to shoot a fully loaded M-16 rifle. Kelly is a former Marine who served in Iraq and was pictured on his website in military gear holding his automatic weapon and promoting the event. 
 
 "I don't see the connection," between the fundraisers featuring weapons and Saturday's shooting, said John Ellinwood, Kelly's spokesman. "I don't know this person, we cannot find any records that he was associated with the campaign in any way. I just don't see the connection. 
 
 "Arizona is a state where people are firearms owners - this was just a deranged individual." 
 
 Law enforcement officials said members of Congress reported 42 cases of threats or violence in the first three months of 2010, nearly three times the 15 cases reported during the same period a year earlier. Nearly all dealt with the health care bill, and Giffords was among the targets. 
 
 A 19-year-old volunteer at the event, Alex Villec, described how the violence unfolded. 
 
 Villec, a former staffer for the congresswoman, told The Associated Press that the man who later turned out to be the suspect arrived at the event wearing a black cap and baggy pants and asking for the congresswoman. 
 
 "I told him ... she'll be more than happy to talk to you as your turn comes," Villec said. The man walked away, but returned just minutes later and burst through a table separating Villec and Giffords from the public. Villec said he saw him raise an arm, and then he heard gunfire. 
 
 The gunman fired at Giffords and her district director and started shooting indiscriminately at staffers and others standing in line to talk to the congresswoman, said Mark Kimball, a communications staffer for Giffords. 
 
 "He was not more than three or four feet from the congresswoman and the district director," he said, describing the scene as "just complete chaos, people screaming, crying." 
 
 The shooting cast a pall over the Capitol as politicians of all stripes denounced the attack as a horrific. Capitol police asked members of Congress to be more vigilant about security in the wake of the shooting. Obama dispatched his FBI chief to Arizona. 
 
 Giffords, known as "Gabby," tweeted shortly before the shooting, describing her "Congress on Your Corner" event: "My 1st Congress on Your Corner starts now. Please stop by to let me know what is on your mind or tweet me later." 
 
 "It's not surprising that today Gabby was doing what she always does, listening to the hopes and concerns of her neighbors," Obama said. "That is the essence of what our democracy is about. That is why this is more than a tragedy for those involved. It is a tragedy for Arizona and a tragedy for our entire country." 
 
 Doctors were optimistic about Giffords surviving as she was responding to commands from doctors. "With guarded optimism, I hope she will survive, but this is a very devastating wound," said Dr. Richard Carmona, the former surgeon general who lives in Tucson. 
 
 Giffords spokesman C.J. Karamargin said besides the aide Zimmerman, who was killed, two other Giffords staffers were shot but expected to survive. Zimmerman was a former social worker who served as Giffords' director of community outreach. Giffords had worked with the judge in the past to line up funding to build a new courthouse in Yuma, and Obama hailed him for his nearly 40 years of service. 
 
 Greg Segalini, an uncle of Christina, the 9-year-old victim, told the Arizona Republic that a neighbor was going to the event and invited her along because she had just been elected to the student council and was interested in government. 
 
 Christina, who was born on Sept. 11, 2001, was involved in many activities, from ballet to baseball. She had just received her first Holy Communion at St. Odilia's Catholic Church on in Tucson, Catholic Diocese of Tucson officials told The Arizona Daily Star. 
 
 In the evening, more than 100 people attended a candlelight vigil outside Giffords' headquarters, where authorities investigated a suspicious package that turned out to be non-explosive. 
 
 The suspect Loughner was described by a former classmate as a pot-smoking loner, and the Army said he tried to enlist in December 2008 but was rejected for reasons not disclosed. 
 
 Federal law enforcement officials were poring over versions of a MySpace page that included a mysterious "Goodbye friends" message published hours before the shooting and exhorted his friends to "Please don't be mad at me." 
 
 In one of several Youtube videos, which featured text against a dark background, Loughner described inventing a new U.S. currency and complained about the illiteracy rate among people living in Giffords' congressional district in Arizona. 
 
 "I know who's listening: Government Officials, and the People," Loughner wrote. "Nearly all the people, who don't know this accurate information of a new currency, aren't aware of mind control and brainwash methods. If I have my civil rights, then this message wouldn't have happen (sic)." 
 
 In Loughner's middle-class neighborhood - about a five-minute drive from the scene - sheriff's deputies had much of the street blocked off. The neighborhood sits just off a bustling Tucson street and is lined with desert landscaping and palm trees. 
 
 Neighbors said Loughner lived with his parents and kept to himself. He was often seen walking his dog, almost always wearing a hooded sweat shirt and listening to his iPod. 
 
 Loughner's MySpace profile indicates he attended and graduated from school in Tucson and had taken college classes. He did not say if he was employed. 
 
 "We're getting out of here. We are freaked out," 33-year-old David Cleveland, who lives a few doors down from Loughner's house, told The Associated Press. 
 
 Cleveland said he was taking his wife and children, ages 5 and 7, to her parent's home when they heard about the shooting. 
 
 "When we heard about it, we just got sick to our stomachs," Cleveland said. "We just wanted to hold our kids tight." 
 
 High school classmate Grant Wiens, 22, said Loughner seemed to be "floating through life" and "doing his own thing." 
 
 "Sometimes religion was brought up or drugs. He smoked pot, I don't know how regularly. And he wasn't too keen on religion, from what I could tell," Wiens said. 
 
 Lynda Sorenson said she took a math class with Loughner last summer at Pima Community College's Northwest campus and told the Arizona Daily Star he was "obviously very disturbed." "He disrupted class frequently with nonsensical outbursts," she said. 
 
 In October 2007, Loughner was cited in Pima County for possession of drug paraphernalia, which was dismissed after he completed a diversion program, according to online records. 
 
 "He has kind of a troubled past, I can tell you that," Dupnik said. 
 
 Giffords was first elected to Congress amid a wave of Democratic victories in the 2006 election, and has been mentioned as a possible Senate candidate in 2012 and a gubernatorial prospect in 2014. 
 
 She is married to astronaut Mark E. Kelly, who has piloted space shuttles Endeavour and Discovery. The two met in China in 2003 while they were serving on a committee there, and were married in January 2007. Sen. Bill Nelson, chairman of the Senate Commerce Space and Science Subcommittee, said Kelly is training to be the next commander of the space shuttle mission slated for April. His brother is currently serving aboard the International Space Station, Nelson said. 
 
 Giffords is known in her southern Arizona district for her numerous public outreach meetings, which she acknowledged in an October interview with The Associated Press can sometimes be challenging. 
 
 "You know, the crazies on all sides, the people who come out, the planet earth people," she said, following an appearance with Adm. Mike Mullen in which the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was peppered with bizarre questions from an audience member. "I'm glad this just doesn't happen to me."
– A Tucson firefighter may have slowed down his unit’s response to the Jan. 8 shooting spree targeting Gabrielle Giffords—because he refused to go out on the call. According to city memos, Mark Ekstrum, a 28-year veteran, “mentioned something about 'political bantering' and he did not want to be part of it” when he refused, and said he was acting "for the good of the crew." Upon being told that wasn’t a valid reason for refusing a call, Ekstrum "started to say something about how he had a much different political viewpoint than the rest of the crew" then told his captain he was going home sick. As supervisors considered how to discipline him, he retired two days later, the Arizona Daily Star reports. Ekstrum’s refusal caused “confusion and delay” during the preparatory process, and one fire engine had to stop along the way to pick up a replacement, but his crew was not one of the initial teams on the scene; they responded in a support, not emergency, fashion. Ekstrum later apologized and explained in a statement that he doesn’t have any problem with Giffords and even voted for her in the last election, but that he was distraught over the shooting and thus “distracted to the point of not being able to perform my routine station duties to such an extent that I seriously doubted my ability to focus on an emergency call.” In lighter Giffords news, the Star notes that she sang “American Pie” over the weekend, and knew all the words.