Reports that Jared Lee Loughner, the gunman in the 2011 Arizona shooting that killed six and wounded 13, including former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords, had filed a lawsuit and was seeking$25 million in damages from Giffords for emotional and psychological distress is a hoax.
reported Thursday morning that a prisoner pretending to be Loughner actually filed the lawsuit, according to a federal court official.
was "hand-picked" to be the assassin and says: "My incarceration is illegal. I am actually innocent. I was framed." It also claims the government put a chip in his head and that Giffords only pretended to be shot and is part of a "global plot to take away our civil liberties."
Loughner is currently serving time in Rochester, Minnesota, but this suit was apparently postmarked in Philadelphia,
filed in the name of another accused mass shooter was sent earlier this month.
Loughner
, something the judge knew before his sentencing.
, the judge said, "The evidence clearly shows that he knew what he was doing, despite his mental illness." He sentenced Loughner to seven consecutive life terms plus 140 years.
The 2011 shooting left Giffords permanently injured, but she has made a pretty impressive recovery and has even hit the campaign trail recently to stump for Hillary Clinton.
"Speaking is hard for me, but come January, I want to say these two words: Madam President," Giffords said in a recent speech.
Cox Media Group
