Almost all of the victims of the Tucson shooting attended President Obama's State of the Union address. But one victim wasn't there. Victim Eric Fuller, 63 was recently committed to the psychiatric ward of a hospital. INSIDE EDITION has more.
Fellow members of Congress saved an empty seat for Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords during the State of the Union address.
In the gallery was the grieving family of slain 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green.
Other victims and heroes of the Tucson massacre were seated with the First Lady.
Watching from in Houston, Texas was Giffords herself, with her astronaut husband Mark Kelly holding her hand.
But one victim wasn't there and his bizarre fate can only now be told.
63-year-old Eric Fuller was actually committed to the psychiatric unit of a hospital just a week after being shot in the leg.
Fuller was taken into custody after disrupting a town hall meeting on ABC's This Week with Christiane Amanpour.
He was seated in the front row of the audience. As a local Tea Party leader, Trent Humphries, was being interviewed, Fuller shouted, "You're dead!"
"Did you mean that as a death threat?" asks INSIDE EDITION's Diane McInerney.
"Absolutely not. I don't see how that can be construed as a death threat," Fuller says.
With tensions high in the wake of the shootings, Fuller was arrested. He was then involuntarily committed to the psychiatric unit for six days for evaluation
Fuller says authorities went too far.
"Do you think authorities overreacted?" McInerney asks Fuller.
"I would think that they did. If this was really a town hall meeting then I don't see any reason why they should have reacted as they did. I feel that I have done nothing wrong," says Fuller.
The Tea Party leader he allegedly threatened says he harbors no ill will.
"To be a witness to something like he witnessed, that can't be healthy for anybody, however, we do need to make sure that he's not a danger to himself or anybody else in the community," said Humphries.
