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Obituaries

Bill Badger | Giffords case hero, 78

Retired Army Col. Bill Badger, 78, credited with helping subdue the gunman who shot former Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords and more than a dozen others in 2011, died Wednesday of pneumonia.

FILE - Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, left, leads the Pledge of Allegiance accompanied by her husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, at the start of a one year memorial vigil for the victims and survivors of the shooting that wounded Giffords, 12 others and killed six in this Sunday, Jan. 8, 2012 file photo taken in Tucson, Ariz. The three-year anniversary of the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords will be marked Wednesday Jan. 8, 2013 with bell-ringing, flag-raising and other ceremonies, providing a moment of reflection for the former congresswoman. Giffords and Kelly plan to mark the anniversary privately with friends and other survivors of the attack. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)
FILE - Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, left, leads the Pledge of Allegiance accompanied by her husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, at the start of a one year memorial vigil for the victims and survivors of the shooting that wounded Giffords, 12 others and killed six in this Sunday, Jan. 8, 2012 file photo taken in Tucson, Ariz. The three-year anniversary of the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords will be marked Wednesday Jan. 8, 2013 with bell-ringing, flag-raising and other ceremonies, providing a moment of reflection for the former congresswoman. Giffords and Kelly plan to mark the anniversary privately with friends and other survivors of the attack. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)Read more
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Retired Army Col. Bill Badger, 78, credited with helping subdue the gunman who shot former Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords and more than a dozen others in 2011, died Wednesday of pneumonia.

Col. Badger was shot in the head but managed to help hold down the gunman in a grocery store parking lot on Jan. 8, 2011.

His wife, Sallie, said the shooting played no role in his death.

Giffords called him a great man and a hero. - AP

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