PHOENIX - A US judge on Monday ordered the man charged in a January shooting rampage in Arizona, Jared Lee Loughner, to undergo a mental evaluation in Missouri to see if he is competent to stand trial.

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Prosecutors earlier this month asked for Loughner to receive an evaluation.

Loughner is accused of firing on US Representative Gabrielle Giffords and a crowd of her constituents at a gathering at a Tucson, Arizona, supermarket.

Six people were killed, including a 9-year-old girl and a federal judge. Giffords was among 13 people wounded in the shooting.

US District Judge Larry Burns wrote in his ruling that the purpose of the examination is not to focus on Loughner's mental state at the time of the shooting.

"The question at issue is whether the defendant is presently suffering from a mental disease or defect rendering him mentally incompetent to the extent that he is unable to understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings against him, or to assist properly in his defense," he said.

Loughner's mental competency has been an issue in the case since soon after the Jan 8 shootings. Officials at Pima Community College in Tucson said he withdrew from the school last year amid questions about his mental health.

Analysts and commentators also cited strange writings and videos that he posted online before the shooting.

In his ruling, Burns agreed with prosecutors that a medical referral center at a federal prison facility in Springfield, Missouri, was the best place for Loughner to be evaluated.

Loughner's attorneys had asked for him to be evaluated in Arizona, arguing that transferring him from Tucson could worsen his mental state and disrupt their relationship with him.

Burns said he expects a report on the mental health examiners' findings by May 11.

Reuters