Gov. Cox orders flags be lowered to honor California mass shooting victims

SALT LAKE CITY — Gov. Spencer Cox has ordered that all U.S. and Utah state flags be lowered to half-staff in honor and remembrance of the victims in Monterey Park, California.

Flags should be lowered to the half-staff position immediately until sunset on Thursday.

On Saturday, a gunman killed 10 people at a Los Angeles-area ballroom dance club during Lunar New Year celebrations, slayings that sent a wave of fear through Asian American communities and cast a shadow over festivities nationwide.

The gunman was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Sunday in the van that authorities say he used to flee after being prevented from attacking another dance hall.

Utahns react to mass shooting in California near Lunar New Year festival

President Joe Biden on Sunday proclaimed that all U.S. flags “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 on Thursday.

Biden ordered that flags be lowered “as a mark of respect for the victims of the senseless acts of violence perpetrated on January 21, 2023, in Monterey Park, California.”

Monterey Park is a city is home to approximately 60,000 and includes a significant Asian population. The city is located about 10 miles — 16 kilometers — from downtown Los Angeles.

Associated Press reports it marked the fifth mass shooting in the U.S. this month and the deadliest since 21 people were killed in a school in Uvalde, Texas, according to The Associated Press/USA Today database on mass killings in the U.S. The latest violence comes two months after five people were killed at a Colorado Springs nightclub.

Flag Directive 1-23-2023 by LarryDCurtis on Scribd