Mr Obama has asked the nation to come together in prayer US stops for Arizona shooting dead
Mr Obama has asked the nation to come together in prayer The US is mourning the deaths of six people in a shooting in Arizona on Saturday which left a congresswoman seriously wounded.
Flags across the country will fly at half mast, and President Barack Obama will lead a minute’s silence.
The man charged with the attack, Jared Loughner, is to appear in court later. He could face the death penalty.
The congresswoman, Gabrielle Giffords, was shot in the head and is critical but responding to simple commands.
She had been holding an open-invitation meeting with constituents outside a supermarket in Tucson when a man holding a gun approached and opened fire.
Ms Giffords, 40, was shot from close range by the gunman, who then began shooting into the crowd.
Among the dead were a nine-year-old girl and a federal judge. A total of 14 people were injured, in addition to the six who were killed.
The girl, Christina Taylor Green, was born on 9/11 and featured in a book Fifty Faces of Hope about some of the children born on that day.
Eyewitness Patricia Maisch: “Somebody said get the gun”
A minute of silence will be held at 1100 Washington time (1600 GMT), led by President Obama from the South Lawn of the White House.
“It will be a time for us to come together as a nation in prayer or reflection, keeping the victims and their families closely at heart,” he said in a statement on Sunday.
House of Representatives Speak John Boehner called on fellow legislators to “stand together” and “rally round our wounded colleague”.
Suspect: Jared LoughnerAged 22; lived with parents in TucsonDescribed by former class-mates as “disruptive” drug user and a lonerReportedly posted rambling web messages complaining of “mind control”Attempted to enlist in US Army but was rejectedProfile: Jared Loughner
The House has postponed all legislative debates next week, including a controversial bill to repeal Mr Obama’s healthcare reform.
But some commentators and politicians have blamed violent rhetoric and hatred conveyed in the media for the shooting.
“People think now if they want to make a statement, they can do that by bringing bodily harm to someone who doesn’t agree with them,” Democratic Representative Ed Pastor said on CNN.
Analysis
Almost as soon as the news of the shootings came out, some in Washington – and many on Twitter and on blogs – were pondering a link between the anger and polarisation apparent in today’s American polity and the attempted assassination of a Democratic congresswoman in a state with highly charged politics.
But few in Tucson seem as sure.
After one of the many vigils that cropped up in the city after the shooting, lawyer Tom Aguilera, 49, stood in the sunshine of a colonnaded courtyard, dwarfed by the office blocks of downtown.
He said he did think of politics, and of the charged nature of American political life, immediately after he heard of the shootings. But he dismissed it.
Others at the vigil agree: they may be dismayed by the anger and virulence of political discourse in America, but they do not connect it with the shootings.
Mr Loughner will appear in court in Phoenix at 1400 local time (2100 GMT).
He has been charged with:
Attempting to assassinate Ms GiffordsKilling two government officials, federal judge John Roll and Gabe Zimmerman, an aide of Ms GiffordsAttempting to kill two more government officials
State authorities are expected to bring charges against him later for attacking non-government employees.
Investigators searching Mr Loughner’s home said they had found evidence that the attack was premeditated.
They found an envelope with messages saying “I planned ahead”, “my assassination”, and the name Giffords.
Describing the attack, local Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said a potentially worse tragedy had been averted.
GABRIELLE GIFFORDS
Represents eighth district of ArizonaFirst elected in 2006Grew up in Tucson, ArizonaMarried to astronaut Mark KellyDescribed as a rising star by Democratic colleaguesProfile: Gabrielle Giffords In pictures: Gabrielle Giffords Who are the other victims?
A woman tackled the gunman as he tried to reload, snatching a magazine of bullets, he said.
He managed to reload with another magazine, but the gun malfunctioned and two men then restrained him.
Various former classmates have described Mr Loughner as “obviously disturbed”.
One of them, Lynda Sorenson, feared he might become violent.
“We do have one student in the class who was disruptive today,” she wrote in an e-mail quoted by the Washington Post.
“He scares me a bit… Hopefully he will be out of class very soon, and not come back with an automatic weapon.”
He was said to be a loner who had posted a number of anti-government videos and messages on social-networking websites.
Shortly before the attack, he had posted: “Goodbye friends. Dear friends, don’t be mad at me.”
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