AZPM (Jan 12, 2026) by Thatcher Warrick Hess

Gabe Zimmerman was the community outreach director for former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in 2011 and was killed in the January 8 shooting. He was 30 years old.

Alongside his passion for politics, Gabe was a soccer player and athlete. His father Ross Zimmerman explained that he would hike with anyone who asked him. He would join his father on long distance runs, and ran with him on a couple of occasions in the Grand Canyon.

“He liked getting out, he liked people and he liked being active,” said his father Ross Zimmerman.

Jacquelyn Jackson, who was Gabe’s predecessor in Gifford’s office, remembers how diligent he was with his work emails, making sure that each day they were all answered.

“He was just a dynamo, he was fun and funny and he had it all going,” said Jackson.

Gabe had a fiancee named Kelly O’Brien, and his father explained he was just a few days out for setting the wedding date.

Even moments before he was killed, Jackson had this exact conversation with him in the Safeway parking lot.

“Gabe was the first one I hugged and I said ‘oh you’re getting married’ , ‘when are you getting married?’ and he said ‘not for a year and a half, we have plenty of time.’ And it was about two minutes later that he was shot,” said Jackson.

Jackson recalled that she had to get her phone from her car after talking to Gabe and then heard the shots. She said this was the reason that she did not get shot that day.

“I miss him all the time. He was the person I went to first with my ideas about things. So he was my best friend as well as my oldest son,” said Zimmerman.

In January 2012, Gabe’s father created Beyond, a broad-based coalition to improve the well-being of people in the Southeastern Arizona community that has hosted running, hiking and biking events.

Beyond partners with the Arizona Trail Association for the Annual Beyond Hike, where the trailhead is named in Gabe’s honor.

There is a tileography art piece and a plaque sitting on the Gabe Zimmerman Memorial Trailhead that was unveiled in January of 2012. Zimmerman explained this particular spot was picked not only for its beauty but that Pima County and the Arizona Trail Association put their heads together to find an area dedicated to him, based on a suggestion from David Hicks.

“Beyond was a result of a tragedy but we can’t be defined by that. We gotta focus forward and do positive things. That’s what Gabe would have wanted,” said Zimmerman.

It was cold and windy for the hike in Vail on Saturday Jan. 10, but Zimmerman estimated about 50 people came, including Mark Kelly and Gabrielle Giffords who gave a speech.

“And anytime you’re moving and sweating and doing it together it even deepens the community feeling of it,” said Jackson.

Jackson guessed about 100 people showed up on Saturday. Three different hikes were offered to the group: one, three and five miles. Jackson has been on the annual hike three times since 2012.

To Jackson and Zimmerman, the spirit of being outside, as a community doing something together is the point of Beyond, and all those affected by the shooting 15 years ago.

“It’s a really wonderful way to celebrate lives, I think, and still be alive too,” said Jackson.

 

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