It's been a year since the tragic Tucson shooting which left six people dead and Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords fighting for her life.

Her struggle to recover from the gunshot wound to her head has been a source of inspiration, and Sunday she and the local community are coming together to pay tribute to those who were injured or lost their lives 12 months ago.

On January 8, 2011 college dropout Jared L. Loughner fired 31 rounds at innocent citizens who had gathered for a congressional outreach event outside a supermarket.

PHOTOS: First Pictures Of Gabby Giffords Since Shooting

More than 30 memorial events are scheduled across the Tucson area, including a candlelight vigil at the University of Arizona. Giffords and her husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, are attending several.

Loughner was declared mentally incompetent to stand trial and is currently consigned to treatment at a US federal prison hospital in Springfield, Missouri.

PHOTOS: Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords With Her Family

The courts and his defense team are still fighting over whether he can be forced to take anti-psychotic drugs, and if he'll stand trial if eventually deemed mentally competent.

Giffords has spent the last year learning how to walk and talk again and is currently deciding whether she will seek re-election.

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For the first time since she was shot in the head last January, we’re hearing the voice of Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords.

In an exclusive interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer, Giffords, 41, talks about her long, and difficult road to recovery.

"It's difficult,"  Giffords tells Sawyer in an interview for a special edition of ABC's 20/20, scheduled to air Monday, November 14. (ABC previewed the story on Friday’s Good Morning America.)

In the special, Sawyer also talks with Giffords' husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, and reveals he shot hours of home video footage following her slow and painful recovery.

Almost seven months after being shot in the head Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords returned to the House of Representatives to vote on the debt ceiling bill and RadarOnline.com has video of her triumphant return.

Monday evening Giffords was given a standing ovation and a huge showing of support by her colleagues on the House floor.  Wearing glasses and with very short dark hair the Democrat voted in support of the debt deal.  She was smiling as she was greeted warmly by her fellow representatives, returning to work for the first time since she was shot.

Giffords was critically wounded in a horrifying rampage on January 8 when Jared Lee Loughner allegedly opened fire on an event she was hosting in a Tucson grocery store parking lot.  Fourteen people were wounded in the shooting spree and six people died, including a nine-year-old girl, a federal judge and one of Giffords' staffers.

A federal judge will hold an emergency hearing on Wednesday involving Jared Loughner's petition to stop prison officials from forcibly medicating him with anti-psychotic drugs.

Loughner, 22, is the sole suspect in the Tucson shooting rampage last January that left six people dead, and 13 wounded, including Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords.

U.S. District judge Larry Burns set the hearing for 2 p.m. PT Wednesday  at the U.S. District Court in San Diego, California.

Loughner is being held at a federal prisoners' hospital in Missouri and is not expected to attend the hearing.

Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, and her husband, Mark Kelly have decided to publish a memoir about their careers and the horrific shooting incident that left Giffords fighting for her life, RadarOnline.com has confirmed.

Kelly has also announced that he has decided to retire so that he can be with his wife full time.

PHOTOS: First Pictures Of Gabby Giffords Since Shooting

"Since Jan. 8, it's been really touching to us to see how much support there is for Gabby and her recovery, and how much interest there is in how she's doing and her story," Kelly, a Navy captain, told The Associated Press during a recent interview from Texas.

"After thinking about it, and talking about it, we decided it was the right thing to do to put our words and our voices on paper and tell our story from our point of view."

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords has been making a miraculous recovery after being shot in the head five months ago, but her team says she still has a long road ahead of her.

"She's living. She's alive. But if she were to plateau today, and this was as far as she gets, it would not be nearly the quality of life she had before," Chief of Staff Pia Carusone told an Arizona website on Thursday.

PHOTOS: Jared Lee Loughner Is The Suspected Shooter

"There's no comparison. All that we can hope for is that she won't plateau today and that she'll keep going and that when she does plateau, it will be at a place far away from here."

Jared Lee Loughner has been declared mentally incompetent to stand trial for the mass shooting that injured Congresswoman Gabby Giffords in January.

The decision came down Wednesday following a bizarre situation in a Tucson, Arizona courtroom when Loughner began shouting and was removed from the proceedings.

“Thank you for the freak show.  She died in front of me.  You are changing it,” Loughner shouted at the judge.

His mug shot looked crazy -- but is he?

Jared Loughner, the suspect in the Tucson shooting rampage, will appear in federal court Wednesday for a hearing to determine whether he is mentally competent to stand trial.

Loughner, 22, spent five weeks in March and April at a federal facility in Missouri where he was examined by two court-appointed mental health professionals.

Recovering Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is planning to “climb a mountain.”

Giffords' husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, told the Arizona Republic on Sunday that his wife is slowly improving, as he sees progress "every few days."

PHOTOS: Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords With Her Family

It's up, up, and away for Arizona shooting victim, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who is set to attend her husband's next shuttle launch, just two months after she was gunned down in a horrific attack.

RadarOnline.com are happy to report that Gifford's steady recovery from a gunshot wound to the head means she will be able to watch her astronaut husband, Mark Kelly, take flight next month.

PHOTOS: Gabrielle Giffords With Her Husband & Friends

NASA officials have confirmed that arrangements are in the works to host the congresswoman in the family viewing area at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.