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MENOMINEE -- Last Saturday's shooting in Tucson, Arizona that killed six people and seriously injured Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords has left people with more questions than answers.

The incident shocked everyone, including former Congressman Bart Stupak, who knows Giffords and faced threats of his own while in office.

Given their time in Congress together, Stupak said her personality and moderate political views make the shooting even more shocking.

"I'm not surprised something like this happened; I'm surprised someone like Gabrielle would be the victim of something like this, of a shooting like this,” said Stupak.  “About the last person you would suspect anyone would have a grudge or an axe to grind with."

After casting his controversial vote in support of health care reform last spring, Stupak and his family received death threats, including one specifically naming his wife and son.  Additional security was given to Stupak and his family, causing them to frequently change their schedules.

"If I did not know the makeup of the crowd, I did not go,” Stupak said.  “Not only for my own personal safety, but also for the personal safety of my family and the constituents who could also get caught in some line of fire as we saw in Arizona."

For the moment, Congress has put politics aside to honor the Arizona victims.

But Stupak is not confident the goodwill will last.

"If we wanted to honor them, we wouldn't let ourselves be tempted to slip back into that hateful way,” he said.  “But being a politician and having been in many elections, it's the negative campaigns and it's the catchy one liners that move people."