A US congresswoman who was seriously injured in an assassination attempt earlier this year returned home to Tucson, Arizona on Saturday, following her discharge from hospital in Houston, dpa reported.
Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, arrived on board a private plane. "We've been dreaming of this trip for some time," Kelly said in a statement ahead of the congresswoman's first trip home since the attack.
Giffords was shot in the head in the January 8 shooting in which six bystanders were killed. She has undergone months of treatment and therapy. Last month, doctors replaced a portion of her skull that had been removed to conduct surgery and relieve pressure on her brain.
She is to move into Kelly's Houston home, where she will have 24-hour nursing assistance while continuing her therapy as an outpatient of the city's Memorial Hermann Hospital.
Former college student Jared Lee Loughner, 22, has pleaded not guilty to 49 federal charges stemming from the attack during a meeting with constituents.