The story that will undoubtedly dominate the next few news cycles: Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot and severely injured in Tucson, AZ today. Giffords was holding a public event outside a grocery store when a lone gunman approached and shot her in the head, before firing off dozens more rounds into the crowd, according to NPR. The congresswoman’s condition is unclear — NPR and Reuters both had reported she was dead, but MSNBC says she’s alive and in surgery. At least 12 people total were shot and six others apparently killed.

(UPDATE: MSNBC is reporting that Giffords is expected to survive. Meanwhile, CNN puts the number injured at 18, and says the death toll is still six, including an aide to the congresswoman and federal judge John Roll.)

Giffords received her masters from Cornell in City and Regional Planning back in 1996. She is one of three Cornell alums currently elected to Congress, and was mentioned by former House speaker Nancy Pelosi in her convocation address in Ithaca this past May, according to the Cornell Chronicle.

Per the Cornell Daily Sun:

“[Giffords] refers to [her time at Cornell] quite a bit in her public remarks and my sense is that it left quite an impression on her,” C.J. Karamargin, Gifford’s communications director, told The Sun in November.

The congresswoman was originally voted into the House of Representatives in the Democratic landslide of 2006 and belonged the Blue Dog caucus. A slew of fucked up, suspicious activity surfaced — bricks thrown at her office, guns dropped at official events — following her endorsement of health care reform. And then this.

We’ll try keep the editorializing to a minimum, except to say that this is just plain fucked up.