From Flickr Creative Commons by John Sonderman
President Joe Biden ordered all U.S. flags to be flown at half-staff on Friday as a mark of respect for the victims of a shooting at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis, Ind., USA Today reports. Of the eight victims, four were members of the Sikh faith.
This is the fourth time in the past five weeks that the U.S. flag has been flown at half-staff in response to national tragedies.
The first two times were in response to shootings, one in Atlanta, Ga. where six of eight victims killed were Asian women and the other in Boulder, Colo., where 10 people were killed. The third was in response to the death and injury of two officers when a driver rammed his car into a barricade near the U.S. Capitol.
Biden expressed his sorrow at the commonness of such tragedies.
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“While we await critical details about the shooting, its motivation, and other key information, once again, I have the solemn duty of ordering the flag lowered at half-staff at the White House, public buildings and grounds, and military posts and embassies, just two weeks after I gave the last such order,” he said in a statement.
He then condemned gun violence, noting that the Indiana shooting was an example of the need for “commonsense gun violence prevention legislation.”
“Gun violence is an epidemic in America,” Biden said. “But we should not accept it. We must act.”
Vice President Kamala Harris echoed Biden’s sentiments during a conference with reporters on Friday.
“Yet again we have families in our country that are grieving the loss of their family members because of gun violence,” she said, according to The Hill. “There is no question that this violence must end and we are thinking of the families that lost their loved ones.”
The Indian Embassy in the U.S. expressed its condolences to the families of the victims of the shooting, offering its assistance to local authorities and community leaders.
“We convey our heartfelt condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the shocking shooting incident at FedEx facility in Indianapolis and pray for the speedy recovery of those injured,” the embassy said in a statement. “Our Consulate in Chicago is in touch with the local authorities in Indianapolis as well as the community leaders, and will render all possible assistance, as required.”
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