Mon 10 Jan 2011 In: International News View at Wayback View at NDHA
Daniel Hernandez with Gabrielle Giffords in an image from his Facebook page A gay college student is being hailed as a hero after possibly saving the life of a congresswoman during the Arizona shootings which claimed six other lives. Twenty-year-old Daniel Hernandez had been an intern for Representative Gabrielle Giffords for just five days when a gunman opened fire as she met with the public outside a grocery store in Tucson, killing six and putting the Democratic Arizona congresswoman in critical condition. The University of Arizona student says he ran towards the gunshots as soon as he heard them. "I don't even know if the gunfire had stopped," he told AZCentral. He saw many people lying on the ground, including a young girl. Some were bleeding and Hernandez moved from person to person checking pulses. "First the neck, then the wrist," he said. One man was already dead. Then he saw Giffords lying contorted on the sidewalk, bleeding. He applied pressure to the entry wound on her forehead, then pulled her into his lap, holding her upright against him so she wouldn't choke on her own blood. Hernandez stayed with Giffords until paramedics arrived and he rode to hospital with her, holding her hand. Surgeons say Hernandez probably saved the congresswoman's life and they are optimistic about her chances of recovery. Giffords is a pro-GLBT congresswoman whose name was among those on a "target map" on Sarah Palin's website, which uses images of gun sights to identify the districts of 20 House Democrats up for election in last year's mid-terms. Police have apprehended 22-year-old Tucson man Jared L. Loughner over the shooting.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 10th January 2011 - 12:02pm