Trump orders flags at half-staff for attack victims

By Safvan Allahverdi

WASHINGTON (AA) - President Donald Trump on Tuesday ordered the American flag to be lowered to half-staff in honor of the five victims who were murdered in a newsroom last week

“Our Nation shares the sorrow of those affected by the shooting at the Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland,” Trump in a White House statement.

“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,” he added.

Trump's order to lower flags to half-staff came after Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley told the Gazette that the White House denied his request Monday to lower the flags.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters Tuesday that once the Trump learned the Mayor's "specific" request, he fulfilled it and gave an order.

The flags will fly at their lowered positions at the White House, federal buildings, military posts and elsewhere until sunset Tuesday.

Five people were killed and several injured by an attack by 38-year-old white male Jarrod Warren Ramos in the newsroom of the Capital Gazette.

Ramos entered the building with a shotgun and walked through its lower level, where the newspaper is located.

He hid under a desk after shooting through a glass door. But officers quickly found and arrested him without exchanging gunfire.

Officials said police investigated online threats Ramos made against the paper in 2013 because the paper published an article about a criminal harassment charge against him in 2012.