Trump Orders Flags To Half-Staff In Honor Of Capital Gazette Shooting Victims

President Donald Trump ordered flags flown at half-staff at federal buildings on Tuesday in honor of the Capital Gazette shooting victims.

“Our Nation shares the sorrow of those affected by the shooting at the Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland,” Trump’s Tuesday proclamation reads. “Americans across the country are united in calling upon God to be with the victims and to bring aid and comfort to their families and friends.”

Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley told The Baltimore Sun on Monday that Trump had denied his request for flags to be flown at half-staff in wake of the mass shooting in Annapolis, Maryland, that killed five newspaper staffers.

Trump decided Monday night to lower flags “as soon as the president heard about the request from the mayor,” White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters told the Washington Post. 

Trump ordered flags to be flown at half-staff in February after the Parkland, Florida, high school mass shooting that left 17 people dead, and in May after a shooting at Sante Fe High School in Texas killed 10 people.

Presidents usually lower federal flags following the death of former presidents and service members, or other national tragedies.

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) ordered flags at the Capitol to be flown at half-staff on Tuesday.

“A free press, and those journalists who embody the ideals of the First Amendment, is critical to our democracy,” Ryan wrote on Twitter.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) on Friday ordered state flags to be flown at half-staff to honor the Capital Gazette victims.

“With the lowering of the Maryland flag, we honor the dedicated journalists of our hometown newspaper in our state’s capital,” the governor said in a statement. “To the family, friends, and colleagues at the Capital Gazette and its parent company, the Baltimore Sun, you have the deepest sympathies of a state in mourning.”

This article has been updated with Ryan’s comment.