Bill Badger, Who Tackled Gaby Giffords Shooter, Dies at 78

ill Badger, who was credited with saving people’s lives during the 2011 shooting in Arizona that critically injured Representative Gabrielle Giffords, died on Wednesday. He was 78.

The cause was pneumonia, said his wife, Sallie Badger. She did not say where he died.

Mr. Badger was wounded — a bullet grazed the back of his head — in January 2011 in a grocery store parking lot near Tucson at a constituent event for Ms. Giffords, a Democrat. He nonetheless managed to tackle the shooter, Jared L. Loughner, and helped others hold him down and disarm him before the police arrived. Ms. Giffords was shot in the head at close range.

Six people were killed and 13 people injured in the shooting. Ms. Giffords, who resigned her House seat, is partly paralyzed, with impaired vision and limited speech.

“I believe that Bill helped save lives that morning,” Ms. Giffords said in a statement. “I will always be grateful to him for his selfless, brave actions.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/13/us/bill-badger-who-tackled-giffords-shooter-dies-at-78.html?hpw&rref=obituaries&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=0

RIP