Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was Palin's target over 'health care reform' backing

Washington, Jan 9 (ANI): Gabrielle Giffords, who is in critical condition after being shot in Tucson, had become a target of potential presidential candidate Sarah Palin in the mid-term elections last year, and had reportedly posted on her Facebook page that a U.S. map with crosshairs of a rifle scope over the districts repped by Giffords and 19 other Democrats.

According to the New York Daily News, her backing of President Obama's health care reform made her a popular target of conservative talking head Palin and Tea Party members last year.

In March, after the Health Care reform bill passed, vandals broke the door of her district office.

Giffords served in the Arizona legislature from 2001 to 2005 and was the youngest woman ever elected to the state Senate. She first became a member of the House in 2006, taking a district where Republican voters outnumber Democrats.

In November last year, the 40-year-old first politician narrowly beat her Republican challenger for a third term.

Meanwhile, a second suspect is reportedly being sought in connection with the deadly shooting in Tucson in the United States, which killed six people and wounded a dozen others, including Giffords.

She is reported to still be in very critical condition at the University Medical Center in Tucson, where a team of neurosurgeons have operated on her.

According to Dr. Peter Rhee, the hospital's trauma and critical care unit medical director, Giffords was shot once in the head, "through and through," with the bullet going through her brain.

Law enforcement officials also said that she had received threats over the years. (ANI)