U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords was holding an open meeting with members of her constituency in a Casas Adobes safeway parking lot on Saturday , January 8 , 2011 when the incident happened . On January 8 , 2011 , a mass shooting occurred near Tucson , Arizona . Nineteen people were shot , six of them fatally , with one other person injured at the scene during an open meeting that U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords was holding with members of her constituency in a Casas Adobes Safeway supermarket parking lot .