The City of West Hollywood has lowered flags at City Hall, Sal Guarirello Veterans Memorial and other locations to half-staff in response to a proclamation by President Donald Trump, who asked that U.S. flags be lowered in honor and remembrance of the 26 church-goers killed in Texas on Sunday in the latest mass gun attack in the United States.
The city will raise the flags to full staff on Friday morning.
“As a mark of respect for the victims of this senseless act of violence perpetrated on November 5, 2017, by the authority vested in me as President of the United States by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby order that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at the White House and upon all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions until sunset, November 9, 2017,” Trump said in his proclamation. “I also direct that the flag shall be flown at half-staff for the same length of time at all United States embassies, legations, consular offices, and other facilities abroad, including all military facilities and naval vessels and stations.”
Twenty-six people were killed while inside First Baptist Church in Sutherland, Tex., on Sunday. The shooter has been identified as Devin Patrick Kelley, a former member of the Air Force with a history of domestic violence.
The Sutherland shooting, the worst mass shooting in the history of Texas, is the latest of 15 such incidents in the last five years that have claimed a total of 208 lives. The United States is known for having the most lax gun safety regulations among Western industrialized nations.
