TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - The husband of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords says he would be willing to meet with the parents of the 22-year-old man accused in a massacre that critically injured the Arizona congresswoman, killed six people and wounded 12 others.
"I don't think it's their fault. It's not the parents' fault," Mark Kelly told ABC's Diane Sawyer in an interview to air Tuesday. "You know, I'd like to think I'm a person that's, you know, somewhat forgiving. And, I mean, they've got to be hurting in this situation as much as anybody."
The suspect, Jared Loughner, remained in federal custody in Phoenix. Investigators have described him as a mentally unstable man who was kicked out of a community college last year and became increasingly erratic recently.
He apparently became obsessed with inflicting violence on Giffords since attending one of her campaign events in 2007.
His parents have remained in seclusion since the shooting at a Safeway supermarket on Jan. 8, only releasing a statement that said they, too, were grieving for those dead and injured.
Kelly's comments were perhaps a sign of the nation's shock and outrage abating as the southern Arizona city buried the dead and Giffords made impressive strides toward recovery.
Giffords had given her husband, an astronaut who has kept a near-constant vigil by her bedside at a Tucson hospital, a neck rub and even smiled, he told ABC.