( CNN ) -- Nineteen months after she and 18 others were shot at a political event -- six of them fatally -- former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords returned home Sunday to her native southern Arizona , her husband said . Giffords has spent most of the time since the January 8 , 2011 , attack at medical facilities in Houston recovering from being shot in the head at a `` Congress On Your Corner '' event outside a Safeway supermarket in Tucson . She has returned to her hometown several times since that shooting , though not permanently until now . `` Moving back to Tucson today , '' her husband Mark Kelly , a retired Navy captain and astronaut , wrote Sunday on his Twitter feed . `` Gabby has been waiting for this day for a long time . '' Records from the Pima County Assessor 's Office posted online indicate that Kelly and Giffords bought a 10-room , single family residence in June in central Tucson . The couple paid $ 1.495 million in cash for the property , which sold for half that price in November 2007 , the records show . Then in her third term , Giffords stepped down from her position in Congress in January 2012 to focus on her recovery . Ron Barber , a Giffords aide also wounded in the attack , now holds the seat . On Tuesday , Jared Lee Loughner pleaded guilty to 19 charges related to the incident . That included admitting to killing federal employees U.S. District Court Chief Judge John M. Roll and congressional aide Gabriel M. Zimmerman , as well as Dorothy Morris , Phyllis Schneck , Dorwan Stoddard and 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green . Federal prosecutors said that , under the plea deal , Loughner will be sentenced to life in prison with no eligibility for parole -- meaning he will not get the death penalty , as might have happened with a conviction . His sentencing is set for November 15 , prosecutors said . The 23-year-old , whose legal proceedings had been complicated by questions about his mental health , waived his right to seek an insanity defense as part of his plea agreement . Court documents released a few days after the shooting showed that investigators found a letter from Giffords in a safe at the house where Loughner lived with his parents , thanking him for attending a 2007 event . `` Also recovered in the safe was an envelope with handwriting on the envelope stating ' I planned ahead , ' and 'my assassination ' and the name 'Giffords , ' along with what appears to be Loughner 's signature , '' the affidavit stated . Giffords worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers and as CEO of El Campo Tire , her family 's business , before being elected to the Arizona House of Representatives in 2000 . Two years later , she became the youngest woman elected to the Arizona State Senate . In an online video announcing her retirement from Congress earlier this year , Giffords vowed her public service career was not over . `` I will return , and we will work together for Arizona and this great country , '' she said . CNN 's Greg Morrison contributed to this report .
NEW : the Arizona State Senate . Giffords and her husband buy a $ 1.495 million home in Tucson , records show . The Tucson native and six others were shot in this day , six of them fatally . She has been living and rehabbing in Houston after being shot in the head . `` Gabby has been waiting for this day for a long time , '' her husband says .