Tucson Shooting Case: Police Were Called to Loughner Home in the Past

Jared Loughner, the defendant in the Arizona shooting spree that left six dead and wounded 14 others, including a congresswoman, had past brushes with the law and may have left incriminating evidence in the family home before Saturday's outburst of violence, news outlets reported Wednesday.

Tucson police were dispatched to the Loughner family home on more than one occasion before the attacks, the
New York Times reports, although it is not clear why police visited, or whether their interest was in 22-year-old Jared Loughner. A police spokesman told the newspaper details of the incidents were under review, and he cautioned that they could have involved minor matters.

But police searching the Loughner home after the shootings found handwritten messages with the phrases "die, bitch" and "die, cops" scrawled on papers, apparently locked away in a box, the Arizona Republic reported. It was not known when the notes were written. The Phoenix-based newspaper also said a federal source disclosed that Loughner's credit card showed multiple charges for pornography.

Pima County Sheriff's Operations Bureau Chief Rick Kastigar told the newspaper that Loughner's father, Randy, saw his son leaving home with a black bag Saturday morning and tried to chase after him. Jared Loughner then disappeared into the nearby desert.

Loughner had two minor run-ins with police several years ago. He was arrested in 2007 on suspicion of possessing drug paraphernalia and again in 2008 for marking up a street sign, USA Today said, but both times charges were dismissed after he agreed to go through diversion programs.

In Tucson, the New York Times also interviewed a former friend on Jared Loughner's, Zane Gutierrez, who said the suspect was a skilled marksman with a pistol, and also a "nihilist" who loved chaos. Loughner became obsessed with the meaning of his dreams and talked about Friedrich Nietzsche's book "The Will to Power," Gutierrez, 21, told the newspaper. "Jared felt nothing existed but his subconscious. The dream world was what was real to Jared, not the day-to-day of our lives."

Gutierrez said he broke off his friendship with Loughner last March because of his erratic behavior.