Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords remained heavily sedated and in a critical condition today as investigators sought to understand what motivated a gunman to carry out the assassination attempt in a rampage that left six people dead.

A nine-year old girl is among the dead as a US Congresswoman was attacked tonight.

Six young people were shot after they stepped off a bus that had left a high school, leaving at least one critical, in a horror attack just streets from two primary schools.

A 13-year-old girl who went missing while riding in a vehicle was found dead in an Arizona mine shaft, while her 10-year-old companion was rescued with serious injuries early today.

TWO women professors at an Arizona nursing college were shot dead

Four people were shot and killed and nine others were wounded inside a Nevada casino today, a local radio reported.