One week after being shot through the head, U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is off the ventilator and breathing on her own through a tracheotomy tube, the University Medical Center of Tucson, Arizona, said Saturday.

Giffords, who authorities say was the target of a mass shooting by Jared Lee Loughner that left six dead and another 13 wounded, remains in critical condition. Still, in a statement, the southern Arizona hospital said that her recovery “continues as planned.”

Another person wounded in the incident, 58-year-old James Tucker, was released from the hospital Saturday, according to the medical center. Two other victims are in good condition at the hospital, while others wounded had been treated and released earlier this week.

The Giffords’ development is the latest milestone for a woman who was critically wounded after a bullet went into her skull, through her brain and then back out her skull.

Doctors on Saturday morning replaced the breathing tube that ran down her throat with a tracheotomy tube in her windpipe. That procedure protects Giffords’ airway and allows her to breath independently for the first time since her first surgery after the shooting, the medical center said.

A feeding tube was also inserted earlier Saturday into Giffords, to make it easier for her to get needed nutrients. The hospital said that such procedures are “not uncommon” among intensive care patients suffering serious brain injuries.

Police say that a gunman — who they claim is Loughner, a 22-year-old Tucson resident — killed several others in a Safeway parking lot in Tucson while trying to assassinate Giffords, who was then holding a constituent meeting.

Dr. Michael Lemole, the hospital’s chief of neurosurgery, said Friday that Giffords is “beginning to carry out a more complex sequence” of activity.

“We’re confident (Giffords) is making progress now,” he said. “We couldn’t have hoped for anything better given the severity of (her) injury.”

(Source: CNN)