TUCSON, Ariz (Reuters) ? Bells tolled, girls in white dresses danced and clergymen offered up prayers in Tucson on Sunday, one year after a shooting spree that left six people dead and 13 others wounded, among them Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.
Giffords herself, still recuperating from the head wound she suffered in the shooting, was expected to top off a daylong series of tributes and remembrances by attending a candlelight vigil with her husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly.
Late on Saturday, the Arizona Democrat paid a surprise visit to the supermarket where a pistol-toting assailant opened fire on a crowd gathered for an outdoor "Congress On Your Corner" constituents meeting on January 8, 2011.
Nineteen people were struck by gunfire and six of them died, including a 9-year-old girl, a Giffords aide and a federal judge.
The accused gunman, Jared Loughner, a 23-year-old college dropout with a history of mental illness, is charged with 49 offenses stemming from the shooting rampage, including first-degree murder and the attempted assassination of Giffords.
Pat Maisch, an onlooker who wrenched a clip of bullets from the assailant's hand after he was tackled, was one of numerous speakers addressing more than 1,000 people who filled a University of Arizona auditorium for 90 minutes to hear reflections honoring those killed and wounded in the attack.
She called the people present in the grocery store parking lot that day her "new extended family," recounting how shoppers and other bystanders immediately rushed to render first aid, calm shocked victims and comfort the wounded until medical personnel arrived.
"These are our first, first responders -- ordinary citizens," she said.
BELLS MARK MOMENT OF BLOODSHED
The official anniversary memorials began with the citywide ringing of bells at 10:11 a.m. local time on Sunday, the exact moment that the shooting erupted one year ago.
Several hundred congregants, including survivors of the shooting and Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, later gathered for a mid-day interfaith service at Tucson's St. Augustine Cathedral, presided over by Catholic priests, a rabbi and Buddhist monks.
A Navajo flutist performed and a group of young girls and teens dressed in white danced through the cathedral.
"It was a beautiful service," survivor Ron Barber, Giffords' district director, said afterward, as he leaned on a cane. "The dancing, the singing, the readings, they were kind of what the community was about, which is people all coming together in unity, compassion and love."
Later at the university campus, Barber recounted how bystander Dorwan Stoddard was killed while shielding his wife, Mavanell, with his own body. "She told me she saw a smile on his face as he lay dying, and she says this was a smile of love for her," Barber said.
Barber suffered wounds to his face and thigh in the shooting. Among those joining him at the cathedral was Daniel Hernandez Jr., the congressional intern credited with applying first aid that saved Giffords' life.
Gary Huckleberry, whose daughter was traumatized by having witnessed the shooting, emerged from an earlier service at St. Philip's in the Hills, an Episcopal parish near the scene of the rampage, saying he found the remembrances therapeutic.
"A lot of us have come a long way since that date a year ago. For some people it will take much more time to get over it, but having this service ... was healing," he said.
Accompanied by her spouse, Giffords made several unannounced visits around the city on Saturday, including the stop at the Safeway in northwest Tucson where she was shot.
"Gabby just visited the Safeway for the 1st time since 1/8/11," Kelly tweeted, adding, "It's been a tough year, but we're lucky to have so many people standing w/us."
Earlier in the day, Giffords hiked outside Tucson on a desert trail named for her slain aide, Gabe Zimmerman, and visited University of Arizona Medical Center staff who treated her and others for bullet wounds.
Giffords and Kelly were slated to attend a candlelight vigil at the University of Arizona Sunday evening, an event expected to draw thousands of residents of Tucson, a city of 520,000 people that many describe as a "small big town."
Loughner, who was arrested at the scene of the shooting, pleaded not guilty to the charges against him but was later confined to the psychiatric ward of a prison hospital after he was declared incompetent to stand trial.
(Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Colleen Jenkins)
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