Gabrielle Giffords (Image courtesy House of Representatives).

The Jan. 8 shootings that killed six and wounded Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and 12 others outside a Safeway store in Tucson, Arizona focused the nation’s attention on the tenor of the political debate in America.

Neon Tommy set out to speak to a handful of Arizona residents about how events that day could reverberate for years to come.

We contacted a grocery store clerk on her way to work that morning, a student who knows Giffords’ intern credited with saving her life, an aerospace engineer, a Tucson homemaker, an entrepreneur and a University of Arizona student.

Here are their stories about that infamous day:

Madeline Ruth, Safeway Cashier.

Jarrett Benkendorfer, University of Arizona student.

Patrick Larkin, University of Arizona student.

Virgilia Singh, Phoenix entrepreneur.

Vivekananda Kandarpa, Retired engineer.

Debra Simmons, Tucson resident.

(Dispatches from Tucson graphic by graphics editor Jennifer Fong)