Mr. Loughner had complained to a friend about how he was treated by the Arizona lawmaker during an event several years ago, which aggravated Mr. Loughner, according to the friend....
Interviews with people who knew Mr. Loughner suggest the shooting followed a slow unraveling in the life of a seemingly peaceful young man.
Mr. Loughner was a scrawny, average teenager with a mop of curly hair. He played saxophone at football games and jammed with a friend's garage band. In his freshman and sophomore years at Mountain View High School, Mr. Loughner flew under the radar....
Alex Montanaro, who described himself as once having been one of "Jared's best friends" said his buddy was a good, smart kid who was close to his parents. "Throughout our time together all I saw was a normal, loving relationship," he said.
But around the 10th grade, Mr. Loughner seemed to have "a mental downfall" following his break-up with a girlfriend, said Mr. Montanaro, who responded to questions via email....
...Mr. Loughner started acting strangely, Mr. Montanaro said, and "his friends changed from people like us to more, drug oriented people I suppose." He quit playing saxophone and was eventually ignored by his old friends. "Jared really became an outcast," he said.
Friends say by his junior year Mr. Loughner used drugs and his grades slumped. He didn't return for his senior year.
In 2007, the year he would have graduated from high school, Mr. Loughner was arrested in Pima County and charged with possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia, according to court records. His case was dismissed....
...Mr. Loughner later enrolled in classes at Pima Community College, where he became disruptive and unstable....
...Pima College spokesman Paul Schwalbach said the school didn't notify law enforcement officials about Mr. Loughner because he didn't appear to be a threat....
...Zach Osler, a high school friend, also noted Mr. Loughner's slide. During his sophomore and junior years, Mr. Loughner became "progressively more weird," Mr. Osler said. He described an erratic young man who would talk excitedly about his theories of "conscious dreaming"—but would also fall into unnerving, long stupors of silence and stare fixedly at his buddies.
....
Mr. Montanaro said his friend "was never really political," but "really tried to be philosophical." Mr. Loughner liked "contemplating the meaning of words and the origin of language," Mr. Montanaro said.
That interest might have triggered Mr. Loughner's first meeting with Ms. Giffords in 2007. Mr. Loughner said he asked the lawmaker, "How do you know words mean anything?" recalled Mr. Montanaro. He said Mr. Loughner was "aggravated" when Ms. Giffords, after pausing for a couple of seconds, "responded to him in Spanish and moved on with the meeting."
Mr. Montanaro recalled his friend developed "a hate for government and just how everything was systematic...He thought government controlled people too much."
"I really can't understand why Jared was so interested in Giffords," Mr. Montanaro said. "I imagine it was simply because she was the most accessible."
