U.S. releases two new photos of Arizona suspect Loughner

Tuscon shooting rampage suspect Jared Lee Loughner is pictured in this undated booking photograph released by the U.S. Marshals Service on February 22, 2011. The 22-year-old college dropout is accused of opening fire on U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords and a crowd of bystanders outside a grocery store on January 8, 2011, killing six people including a federal judge, and wounding 13. Giffords was shot in the head but survived.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Authorities on Tuesday released two new booking photos of Jared Loughner, the college dropout accused in the Arizona shooting rampage.

The 22 year-old Loughner is smiling slightly in the photos taken from the front and the back, and released by the U.S. Marshals Service, an agency responsible for the transport of inmates in federal custody.

Another mug shot released in January by the Pima County Sheriff's Department showed him looking wild-eyed and smiling more broadly than in the latest two booking photos.

Pima County sheriff's deputies were the authorities who originally took Loughner into custody following the January 8 shooting rampage at a supermarket in Tucson, Arizona.

The release of the photos came after U.S. District Judge Larry Burns of the Southern District of California declined a motion by prosecutors and defense attorneys to bar release of Loughner's federal photographs.

Burns said he had no authority to overrule a prior appeals court opinion on such issues.

Loughner faces federal charges for opening fire on U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords and a crowd of her constituents at a political gathering at the supermarket.

Six bystanders, including a 9-year-old girl and a federal judge, were killed, and 13 others were wounded. Giffords was shot in the head but is recovering.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis: Editing by Dan Whitcomb)