The first glimpse of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords since her shooting in January was revealed Sunday in photos of the Arizona congresswoman posted on her official Facebook page.
In the images, Giffords' hair is dark and closely cropped, but she wears the same beaming smile that was her hallmark before she and a dozen others were seriously wounded and six people were killed in an attack outside a grocery store near Tucson. The alleged gunman, Jared Lee Loughner, has been declared mentally incompetent to stand trial by a judge, but his prosecution could go forward if his condition improves.
The photos were taken on May 17 by photojournalist P.K. Weis of SouthwestPhotoBank.com, a longtime photographer for the now-defunct Tucson Citizen who has known Giffords for more than a decade.
Weis snapped the pictures at the Houston rehabilitation center where Giffords is being treated, the day before she was scheduled to undergo a cranioplasty to repair part of her skull that was removed because of brain swelling. The photo session occurred the day after the launch of Endeavour shuttle, which carried her husband, Mark Kelly, into space.
Before
After
