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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It’s been just over one week since Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head outside of a grocery store during a political rally in Tuscon, Arizona.

Giffords’ husband of three years, US Navy captain and astronaut, Mark E Kelly, has kept a vigil by his wife’s bedside at the Tuscon University Medical Center ever since, barely leaving her for one minute.

PHOTOS: The Six People Killed In The Tucson Shootings

In an exclusive interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer that airs tonight, Kelly opens up about his wife’s recovery, his optimism for her future and how, even though she is battling for her own life she still manages to look out for other people.

Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords’ doctors have backed up her husband’s claims regarding her ‘miraculous’ recovery, revealing that her physical rehabilitation treatment has already begun and amazingly, disclosing that she could be leaving the hospital in ‘days’.

In a press conference which airs during an ABC 20/20 special tonight, Dr G Michael Lemole Jr, Chief of Neurosurgery at Tuscon University Medical Center spoke about Giffords’ husband, Mark E Kelly’s claim that his wife recognizes him and has proved it by playing with his wedding ring – something she used to do before her injury.

PHOTOS: The Six People Killed In The Tucson Shootings

“It does imply that she is recognizing him,” he said. “And that she’s interacting in an old familiar way with him.”

Authorities recovered nearly two dozen surveillance tapes from both inside and outside the Arizona Safeway grocery store where Jared Lee Loughner went on a wild shooting spree, and the footage is graphic and disturbing.

Sources who have viewed the tapes told the Washington Post that Loughner is seen shooting Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in the face, above the left eye, from just two or three feet away.

PHOTOS: The Six People Killed In The Tucson Shootings

“He walks up, goes bang. It’s very clear,” a source said.

“He is maybe 24 to 36 inches away. You can see her go straight down.”