President Barack Obama has praised Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords “incredible spirit” and has called her ongoing recovery following the Tucson shooting “a genuine miracle”.

In January at the opening of a supermarket in Tucson, Arizona, Giffords was shot through the head. 

nited States District Court for the District of Arizona Chief Judge John Roll and one of Rep. Giffords's staffers were among the six people killed in the incident. Nineteen others were injured and Giffords thought to be the target of the shooting was shot at point blank range.

Obama met with his friend Giffords at Cape Canaveral in April. Giffords was attending the launch of the Endeavor Space Shuttle mission. Her husband Captain Mark Kelly was the commander of the mission.

Speaking to NBC’s “Today” Obama said it was “almost unimaginable” to see Giffords walking, talking and laughing.  He also said that he also things Giffords is “going to keep getting better”.

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Over the weekend two photos of Giffords were released, via Facebook. These are the first  images of Giffords that have been seen since the shooting. The Congresswoman’s team issued the images with the hope that it would keep the paparazzi at bay while she is released from the Houston, Texas rehabilitation clinic, to become an outpatient.

The Congresswoman’s spokesman, C. J. Karamargin said the photos had been released because “there have been rumors of a ‘bounty’ for photos of the congresswoman,” according to reports in the Arizona Daily Star.

Giffords photographer P.K. Weis, who has known her for a decade said “Really, it’s the relief that everybody is reacting to now that the pictures are out. Everyone looks at them and says, ‘That’s Gabby, she’s back. She was never gone. She’s just been away from us for a while.”