Gabrielle Gifford Interview: Congresswoman Vows to Return

November 15, 2011 11:19 AM EST

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords gave her first television interview with ABC News last night, detailing some of her recovery and giving the nation a peak into how her world has changed since she was shot in the head last January.

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When told exactly what happened, including the deaths of six other people, Giffords said she was sad.

"I cried. A lot of people died," she said. according to CNN.

Giffords, though told interviewer Diane Sawyer that she never got angry with the man charged with the shooting, Jared Loughner. Her husband, Mark Kelly, said he and Giffords wish he'd gotten help for his mental illness.

"It was obvious he had serious mental issues," Kelly told Sawyer. "If he would have received some treatment, this probably would not have happened."

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Kelly also detailed how perilously close the bullet came to killing his wife.

"It's clear that any lower, it would've killed her, any further midline, it would've killed her," Kelly said during the interview. "If it crossed hemispheres, it would've killed her. Any further outboard, she'd never be able to speak again. Any higher, she'd never be able to walk."

The interview was scheduled with the release of Giffords and Kelly's book detailing her recovery. In the book, ABC reported, Giffords promises to go back to her job.

"I will get stronger," the book says, ABC reports. "I will return."

Giffords was injured in a January 8 shooting at an event near a grocery store in Tuscon, Arizona. The man accused of the crime, Loughner, has been found to be incompetent to stand trial.

In all, 19 people were shot, with six fatalaties.

This article is copyrighted by International Business Times, the business news leader