Breaking their silence, Loughner's parents, Randy and Amy Loughner, said, "There are no words that can possibly express how we feel. We wish that there were, so we could make you feel better. We don't understand why this happened."
"We care very deeply about the victims and their families. We are so very sorry for their loss," they said in a statement handed to reporters waiting outside their house.
The apology came as a response to the shootings on Saturday that left Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords seriously injured. She is currently fighting for her life as she took a single bullet to the head.
The gunman, who was allegedly trying to assassinate the three-term Democrat from Arizona, killed six people, including a federal judge and a 9-year-old girl.
Published 12 January 2011, 11:36 IST