Patricia Maisch looks like a grandmother, but she is being hailed as a hero today for helping to stop alleged Tucson shooter Jared Loughner by wrestling away a fresh magazine of bullets as he tried to reload. 
 
 Maisch, 61, effectively disarmed the shooter as several men pounced on him and threw him to ground. As they struggled to hold him down, Maisch joined the scrum on the ground, clinging to the gunman's ankles. 
 
 Maisch and her fellow heroes -- identified as Bill Badger, Roger Sulzgeber and Joseph Zamudio -- stopped the carnage after 20 people were shot, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Six people died. 
 
 "[I] knew right away it was a gun... I heard a continuation of shots," Maisch told a news conference today. 
 
 Maisch, who has a crown of snow-white hair, was standing towards the back of the line to greet and snap a photo with Giffords at the "Congress in Your Corner" event at a Safeway grocery store. 
 
 Speaking to the press today, Maisch recalled how she stopped Loughner as he tried to reload his Glock 9 mm weapon. 
 
 "I could see him coming. [He] shot the lady next to me," Maisch said. 
 
 As he was shooting, she said, she was expecting to be hit and she wondered what it would feel like. 
 
 There was "lots of blood and confusion," she said. 
 
 She considered trying to run away, she said, but thought that would make her more of a target, so she laid down on the ground. But then something unexpected happened. 
 
 "Then he was next to me on the ground," she said. "The gentleman knocked him down. 
 
 "I kneeled over him. He was pulling a magazine [to reload] and I grabbed the magazine and secured that. I think the men got the gun, and I was able to get the magazine," she said. 
 
 Maisch said Badger and Sulzgeber both sat on the gunman while she held his ankles down. Police said that Zimudie helped by hanging on to Loughner's legs. 
 
 Sulzgeber was reportedly standing with his wife, third in line to meet with Giffords, while Zimudie was in the nearby Walgreens and came running out once he heard the shooting. 
 
 "I thought I would be shot. I am thankful for those two brave men," Maisch said. "I am not a hero. The other guys are. I just assisted getting the clip." 
 
 Badger, a 74-year-old retired army colonel living in Tucson, told Pottsville, Pa.'s Republican-Herald how he helped capture Loughner, and that he was grazed in the back of the head by a bullet. 
 
 The Heroes of the Tucson Shooting 
 
 "I heard the shots but I thought they were fireworks at first," Badger told the newspaper. "I wasn't sure they were shots until I actually saw the shooter, and I was sure he was really shooting bullets when I felt the sting on the back of my head." 
 
 According to Badger, who the Republican-Herald confirmed was treated for an injury at a hospital, he was the first person standing next to a row of chairs leading to Giffords when the first shots rang out. 
 
 Badger told the paper, "I turned and saw him running down the line of people on the chairs. He ran between me and the store. Someone hit him with a chair and he flinched a little. That's when I grabbed his left arm. Someone grabbed his right arm and we got him to the ground. 
 
 "The other guy put his knee into the back of his neck and I grabbed him around the throat. We held him until police got there. While we had him on the ground I saw blood running and it wasn't until then I realized it was coming from the back of my head," Badger said. 
 
 Speaking outside her home this evening, Maisch said that when she noticed that one of the men was bleeding from the head, she ran into the Safeway to get paper towels. 
 
 "I put a compress on the man's head while he was securing the shooter," she said. ||||| In a crisis, we say, we can't be sure how we'd react -- whether we'd run or freeze, scream or, as in a nightmare, be unable to make a sound. But four bystanders in Arizona now know that they kept Saturday's shooting rampage at a shopping center from becoming an even more catastrophic event, according to law enforcement officials.As it was, the attack killed six people, including a federal judge and a 9-year-old girl, and wounded 14, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who authorities say was the target of the attack.But if the gunman had been able to reload his semi-automatic pistol and keep firing, Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said Sunday, "there would have been a huge, greater catastrophe."The gunman was thwarted in that effort by four unassuming people who were identified as Bill Badger, Patricia Maisch, Roger Salzgeber and Joseph Zamudio. Not one of them is willing to call himself a hero.Maisch, who looks more storybook grandmother than crime fighter, told reporters that she had not run from the scene of the attack because she feared she would be shot. But when she saw the gunman trying to reload, she made a move to grab the magazine."The two men that secured him were the heroes," Maisch, 61, told CNN. "I just was an assistant in being able to get that magazine or clip."It was the self-described "assistant," however, who created just enough of a distraction to allow two others -- Badger and Salzgeber -- to tackle the shooter. Then Zamudio, who had been inside a nearby Walgreens when the shooting started, helped hold down the assailant.Badger, 74, told WNEP television in Moosic, Pennsylvania: "I asked him when we were holding him down, 'Why in the world would you do something like this?' and he wouldn't answer. He was only 22-years-old. He looked like a young kid to me when I saw him and just why would he do something like this? There's no reason and the concern of mine was to shoot a 9-year-old girl and to shoot innocent people, something has to be wrong."Badger, a retired Army colonel, said he had just done what anyone else would have done. "Once you're in the military, you never retire," he said. "You're always there to help the community and the people who are in danger."Salzgeber was even more reticent, declining to talk to reporters who telephone him and saying the authorities had promised him his name would not be released, according to The Arizona Republic. "I'm totally stressed out about this," said Salzgeber, who was one of the top three signature collectors for Giffords petitions when she was qualifying to run for re-election in 2010. "I'm not interested in talking."Zamudio said the gunman was already on the ground when he reached him. "I laid on him and held him down, and made sure the gun was down," Zamudio said.The gunman, who authorities have identified as 22-year-old Jared Loughner, was armed with a 9-millimeter Glock semi-automatic, which FBI Director Robert Mueller said he had obtained last November. Mueller did not say where Loughner got the gun. CNN reported it was purchased at a store in Tucson.Federal prosecutors filed charges against Loughner Sunday afternoon, including one count of attempting to assassinate a member of Congress, two counts of killing an employee of the federal government and two counts of attempting to kill a federal employee. Mueller indicated that additional charges may be filed based on the continuing investigation.The criminal complaint said that investigators found a letter from Giffords in a safe at Loughner's house thanking him for attending one of her "Congress on Your Corner" meetings in 2007. The complaint added: "Also recovered in the safe was an enveloped with handwriting on the envelope stating 'I planned ahead,' and 'My assassination' and the name 'Giffords' along with what appears to be Loughner's signature." ( See a copy of the complaint here ).Dupnik, who has received wide attention for his remarks Saturday attacking the amount of "vitriol" in political rhetoric that he said may contribute to violence, repeated that view with obvious emotion on Sunday and also lashed out at laws that let "everybody" carry guns."I think that when the rhetoric about hatred, about mistrust of government, about paranoia about how government operates and to try to inflame the public on a daily basis, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, has impact on people especially who are unbalanced personalities to begin with."Asked how he felt about Arizona's gun laws, Dupnik said of the state, "I think we're the Tombstone of the United States of America.""I have never been a proponent of letting everybody in this state carry weapons under any circumstances that they want and that's almost where we are," he said. "The legislature at this time is proposing that students and teachers be allowed to have weapons in schools and in college. . . . That's the ridiculous state to where we have become."Dupnik was referring to a bill proposed by state Sen. Karen Johnson that would allow people 21 and older who have a concealed weapons permit to carry a firearm at public colleges and universities, where they are generally not allowed. She said that if a student or teacher was armed, they could act if a gunman tried to open fire on campus as had happened at Northern Illinois University in 2008 The 74-year-old Dupnik is a Democrat who, according to the Washington Post , "is known for his colorful and often bluntly partisan commentary." He has called Arizona's new law cracking down on illegal immigration "racist" and "stupid" and has refused to enforce it. He has also described Tea Party partisans as "bigots."Dupnik's Saturday remarks drew a rebuke from Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl, a Republican, who said on CBS' Face the Nation, "I didn't really think that that had any part in a law enforcement briefing last night. It was speculation. And I don't think we should rush to speculate. I thought that the report that we just saw from Tucson seems to have it about right. We really don't know what motivated this young person except to know he was very mentally unstable." ||||| Story highlights Jared Loughner's parents took away his shotgun and told him he needed help 
 
 Loughner bought six or seven boxes of ammunition, documents show 
 
 He purchased a 9mm before Christmas 2010, investigators say 
 
 Loughner ran from parents just before the shooting rampage, mom says 
 
 Jared Loughner's behavior was so disturbing that his father confiscated his shotgun and took to disabling his car every night to keep him home in the months leading up to an Arizona shooting rampage that left six people dead, according to investigative documents released Wednesday. 
 
 Loughner's parents even went so far in the days and weeks before to tell their son he needed to get help "(be)cause his behavior is, um, been not normal," his mother, Amy, told investigators, according to transcripts of recorded interviews by investigators. 
 
 The documents reveal vivid details about the events leading up to and surrounding the January 8, 2011, shooting during a meet-and-greet with U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords outside a Tucson, Arizona, grocery story. Giffords, who was shot in the head, was among 13 people wounded in the shooting. 
 
 The statements by Loughner's parents were among the more than 2,700 pages of previously sealed documents released by the Pima County Sheriff's Department in response to a Freedom of Information requests filed by CNN and other news agencies. 
 
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 Loughner, 24, is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty last year to 19 charges in exchange for the government not seeking the death penalty. 
 
 Photos: Tucson shooting victims Photos: Tucson shooting victims Dorwan Stoddard, 76 – Witnesses told CNN that Stoddard, a retired construction worker, tried to shield his wife, Mavy, during the incident. They said he was shot in the head and fell onto his wife. She was shot three times in her legs but is expected to make a full recovery. Hide Caption 1 of 6 Photos: Tucson shooting victims Christina Green, 9 – The youngest victim of the Tucson shooting, Christina attended the event hosted by U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords because she had recently been elected to the student council at Mesa Verde Elementary School. She was born on September 11, 2001. Hide Caption 2 of 6 Photos: Tucson shooting victims Dorothy Morris, 76 – Dorothy Morris, or "Dot" as friends called her, was in line with her husband to meet Giffords when Jared Loughner opened fire, according to CNN affiliate KGUN. Morris and her husband had been married for 55 years. Hide Caption 3 of 6 Photos: Tucson shooting victims John Roll, 63 – A native of Pennsylvania, Roll was a federal judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona and had served the legal system for nearly 40 years. He began his career as a bailiff in Pima County Superior Court and rose to be chief judge for the District of Arizona, a position he had held since 2006. Hide Caption 4 of 6 Photos: Tucson shooting victims Phyllis Schneck, 79 – Phyllis Schneck was a 79-year-old grandmother who had retired to Arizona from New Jersey. She was known for her volunteer work and for her fabulous holiday dinners. Hide Caption 5 of 6 Photos: Tucson shooting victims Gabe Zimmerman, 30 – Zimmerman, a Tucson native, served as director for community outreach on Giffords' staff. He was engaged to be married. Hide Caption 6 of 6 
 
 Photos: Photos: One year since Arizona shooting Photos: Photos: One year since Arizona shooting One year since Arizona shooting – Rep. Gabrielle Giffords leads the crowd in the pledge of allegiance during a vigil on Sunday, January 8, 2012, in Tucson, Arizona, marking one year since a shooting rampage left her and 12 others wounded and six people dead. Hide Caption 1 of 11 Photos: Photos: One year since Arizona shooting One year since Arizona shooting – Safeway employee Sherrie Brown is comforted by Leroy Wood while participating in a ringing of the bells ceremony earlier Sunday. Several events were held to mark the one-year anniversary of the shooting at the La Toscana Village Safeway. Hide Caption 2 of 11 Photos: Photos: One year since Arizona shooting One year since Arizona shooting – Rebecca Kraft, 4, places flowers at a memorial site in the Safeway parking lot on Sunday. Hide Caption 3 of 11 Photos: Photos: One year since Arizona shooting One year since Arizona shooting – A commemorative plaque marks the site of the shooting at the La Toscana Village Safeway. Hide Caption 4 of 11 Photos: Photos: One year since Arizona shooting One year since Arizona shooting – A group of local children light candles at the Safeway memorial site. Hide Caption 5 of 11 Photos: Photos: One year since Arizona shooting One year since Arizona shooting – A memorial along the highway in Tucson commemorates each of the six people who lost their lives. Hide Caption 6 of 11 Photos: Photos: One year since Arizona shooting One year since Arizona shooting – Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, right, attends an interfaith memorial service at St. Augustine Cathedral in Tucson on Sunday. Hide Caption 7 of 11 Photos: Photos: One year since Arizona shooting One year since Arizona shooting – Members of the Tucson Dance Academy perform at St. Augustine Cathedral on Sunday. Hide Caption 8 of 11 Photos: Photos: One year since Arizona shooting One year since Arizona shooting – During Sunday's memorial service, Teresa Bier makes a flower offering in honor of Christina Taylor-Green, a 9-year-old who was killed. Hide Caption 9 of 11 Photos: Photos: One year since Arizona shooting One year since Arizona shooting – Ron Barber, who was wounded in last year's shooting, exits after attending an Sunday's interfaith service. Hide Caption 10 of 11 Photos: Photos: One year since Arizona shooting One year since Arizona shooting – Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly, stand at the Gabe Zimmerman Trailhead memorial site on Saturday, January 7. Zimmerman, one of the congresswoman's aids, was killed in the shooting. Hide Caption 11 of 11 
 
 Many of the details surrounding the rampage are well known, from the heroic efforts to save Giffords and others to the tackling of the gunman. 
 
 But the documents shed light on Loughner's erratic behavior leading up the shooting, from fleeing from his father the morning of the shooting to his repeated effort to buy ammunition for a 9mm handgun that he ultimately used in the rampage. 
 
 Loughner's parents told authorities that their son, who they described as a "loner," took a turn following his dismissal from Pima County College months earlier -- after he posted a disturbing video online that officials described as threatening. 
 
 Loughner's parents told authorities they took away his shotgun after college police warned them their son may be a danger to himself or to others. 
 
 Efforts for ammo, tears at traffic stop 
 
 Her son never followed up on getting a mental health evaluation that was required for being readmitted to the college, Amy Loughner said. 
 
 According to the documents, unbeknownst to his parents Loughner purchased a 9mm handgun sometime before Christmas 2010 and showed it off to a friend. 
 
 On the morning of the rampage, he went to at least two Walmarts in an attempt to buy ammunition. He was turned away at one by an employee who told investigators that he was behaving strangely. 
 
 "I kind o' felt uneasy, to be honest with you," the employee was quoted as saying in the transcripts. 
 
 At another Walmart, Loughner was described as friendly as he inquired whether there was a limit on the amount of ammunition he could purchase. 
 
 "And then I guess he asked for six boxes, seven boxes," an employee said. "Rang them up. Checked his ID. Wasn't any problem. So I double-bagged it for him.' 
 
 Just hours before the rampage, Loughner broke down and cried to an Arizona Game and Fish officer when he pulled over for running a red light. 
 
 "It's bad for your health, you're gonna kill somebody, you're gonna kill yourself," Game and Fish Officer Alen Edward Forney told Loughner, according to the transcript of Forney's statements to investigators. 
 
 "I said, 'I'm not gonna write you a citation for this.' And when I said that to him, his face got kinda screwed up and, and he started to cry. 
 
 "That struck me as a little odd," Forney continued. "So I asked him if he was OK. And he said, 'Yeah, I'm OK, I've just had a rough time and I really thought I was gonna get a ticket and I'm really glad that you're not.' " 
 
 But Forney was worried whether Loughner could drive safely. 
 
 "I again made sure that he was OK. I asked him ... three or four times. He was probably getting tired of me asking if he was OK," Forney said. 
 
 "He said yeah, he was fine. He was just heading home, it wasn't too far away and he'd be OK," Forney said. 
 
 Two and a half hours later, Loughner opened fire on a crowd of people at an outdoor event where Giffords was greeting constituents. 
 
 When Forney got home that night and heard about the shooting, he went online, he said. 
 
 "I opened up the Internet and there was his picture," Forney said. "Man, my heart just went up in my throat." 
 
 About an hour after the traffic stop, Loughner returned to his parents' home in his 1969 Chevrolet Nova, his mother, Amy Loughner, told authorities. 
 
 When his parents asked him what was in his backpack, he ran out the door, his mother said. 
 
 His father, Randy Loughner, dropped his coffee and ran after his son but couldn't catch him, the mother said. 
 
 A short time later, a neighbor told them there were news reports Giffords had been shot. 
 
 They later learned from authorities their son was believed to be the shooter. 
 
 Shooting rampage 
 
 Kenneth Veeder, a bystander to the shooting, suffered a gunshot wound to the calf as he was talking to a family lined up to meet Giffords. Veeder, a Vietnam War combat officer who served three tours of duty, was wearing an Infinity Airborne shirt. 
 
 "I heard pop, pop, pop, pop," Veeder said. 
 
 Loughner was running and knocked him down, he said. 
 
 When Loughner was reloading his gun, one man grabbed him, and Veeder grabbed Loughner's gun that fell to the ground, Veeder said. 
 
 Veeder wanted to reload the gun, but a woman talked him out of it. 
 
 "She goes, 'You can't do that,' " Veeder said in the transcript. "The hell I can't -- because I would have shot him. That's how angry I was. It was a combat reaction," he said. 
 
 Deputy Sheriff Thomas Audetat Jr. recounted how he arrested Loughner. He saw two or three people holding down Loughner on a sidewalk between a Safeway grocery and Walgreens. 
 
 Audetat put his knee on Loughner's back and handcuffed him. 
 
 A bullet had earlier grazed the left side of the head of one person holding down Loughner, Audetat said. Right behind him was a woman who was also a gunshot victim. 
 
 Audetat searched Loughner. 
 
 "In his left front pocket, I found two magazines which I immediately observed to be for a Glock," Audetat said. "I was not sure of the caliber at that point, but they were Glock magazines and they were both fully loaded." 
 
 Audetat also found a foldable knife with a 4-inch blade in Loughner's front pocket. 
 
 Loughner said he was feeling hot, so the deputy removed Loughner's beanie and hooded sweatshirt. 
 
 Audetat found Loughner wearing earplugs, and Loughner also stated several times that he pleaded the Fifth Amendment, documents said. 
 
 "At that point, he said, 'I just want you to know that I'm the only person that knew about this,'" Audetat said. "That was the only thing, pretty much, that he said to me almost all day."
– Talk about a brave 61-year-old: Patricia Maisch is being called a hero after wrenching away the Tucson shooter’s ammunition, preventing him from reloading as she helped press him to the ground, ABC News reports. Maisch was in line to meet Rep. Gabrielle Giffords when the shooting began. She threw herself to the ground to dodge the attack, and found Jared Lee Loughner “next to me on the ground” after he was laid low by another bystander. A trio of men—Bill Badger, Roger Sulzgeber, and Joseph Zimudie—had "knocked him down" and sat on him as she held his ankles. "I kneeled over him. He was pulling a magazine and I grabbed the magazine and secured that." "I think the men got the gun, and I was able to get the magazine," preventing him from reloading, Maisch said. Click for more on the four heroes.