TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - The suspect in a deadly Tucson shooting rampage has left Arizona, headed by plane to a Missouri prison facility where mental health experts will try to make him psychologically fit to stand trial.
Chris DeRosa, a spokesman for the U.S. Marshals Service in Tucson, says Jared Lee Loughner was flown out of Tucson around 9 a.m. PST Friday.
Loughner will spend up to four months at the facility in Springfield, Mo. A judge ruled Wednesday that the 22-year-old was mentally unfit to assist his lawyers in defending him.
Mental health experts who examined Loughner concluded he suffers from schizophrenia.
Loughner has pleaded not guilty to federal charges stemming from the shooting that wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 12 others and killed six people.