Congressional Staffers Shaken But United by Arizona Shooting
Hill Aides Mourn Loss of Gabe Zimmerman, But Say It Won't Change Their Ways
Jan. 10, 2011 -- Ross Zimmerman was frantically looking for his 30-year-old son Gabe in the emergency room on Saturday in Tucson when a dreadful thought occurred to him.
"Nobody could find him, and that's when the horrible realization dawned on us that they couldn't find him because he wasn't in any emergency room," Zimmerman told ABC's Christiane Amanpour. "He had died at the scene -- and half of my future is gone."
The younger Zimmerman was the director of community outreach for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., who was shot in the head that tragic morning, the target of an assassination attempt allegedly carried out by Jared Lee Loughner, 22.
The shooting -- in which at least six people were killed and 14 were wounded -- left Congressional staffers shaken but united, many of them told ABC News. Gabe Zimmerman was one of their number.
"There's a sense of unity right now and a sense of camaraderie among staffers that work for people," one staffer said. "I think that everybody can relate to the young man who was slain in the incident because a lot of people who work in members' offices do exactly the type of job that he was performing that day -- reaching out to constituents, organizing an event like that, working with local elected officials to make sure they're aware of it, and making sure that it runs smoothly for your boss."
"What he was carrying out is a core duty of anybody that works for a member -- and he very much fit the profile of an average staffer that works for a member, so I think that everybody can relate to that person and everybody's thinking of him and his family and his fiancee that lost him. It's a helpless feeling because a lot of people would like to do something to help or contribute."
On Monday hundreds of staffers joined with a handful of members of Congress in a moment of silence on the steps of the Capitol. Many lawmakers said that Saturday's shooting will not make them change their ways when they are back in their home districts.
"I will not be paralyzed by fear," Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., said after the moment of silence. "I will not look at my citizens and automatically think that I am in danger."
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