A week after being shot in the head, U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords has been taken off the ventilator and is breathing on her own through a tracheotomy tube, CNN reported on Sunday, referring to the University Medical Center of Tucson, Arizona.
Giffords, who authorities say was the target of a mass shooting by Jared Lee Loughner that killed six and wounded another 13, still remains in critical condition. However, the southern Arizona hospital said that her recovery "continues as planned," CNN reported.
Giffords, 40, was shot through the head as she addressed her supporters in Tucson, Arizona, on January 8. She was hospitalized in a critical condition and underwent brain surgery, and doctors said they were "cautiously optimistic" about her recovery.
Giffords is known as a moderate centrist politician and a rising star among American lawmakers. A third-term Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives, she supported the right of Americans to bear arms and criticized existing immigration laws, RIA Novosti reported.
U.S. President Barack Obama called the shooting a "senseless and terrible act of violence" and an "unspeakable tragedy."