President Barack Obama today ordered that all flags of the United States at the White House and on public buildings and grounds be flown at half-staff in honor of the victims of the Colorado tragedy.
In the proclamation signed by Mr. Obama Friday, flags will be flown at half staff until sunset, July 25, 2012.
Early on Friday morning a heavily armed gunman, identified as James Eagan Holmes entered a theatre in Aurora and opened fire killing 12 people and injuring scores of others, Aurora police said. 71 people in total were shot inside the theater.
Holmes entered the theater during a screening of “The Dark Knight Rises” dressed in all black and with heavy body armor, the huffingtonpost.com reports. He is believed to have used three weapons – an assault rifle, a shotgun and a .40-caliber Glock.
Although the investigation is at an early state, police believe that Holmes acted alone, although authorities have declined to speculate on his motive for the mass killings .
See the President’s Proclamation below:
As a mark of respect for the victims of the senseless acts of violence perpetrated on July 20, 2012, in Aurora, Colorado, 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, July 25, 2012. 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.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
twentieth day of July, in the year of our Lord two thousand twelve, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-seventh.
BARACK OBAMA
