State Watch

Virginia governor orders flags at half-staff to honor shooting victims

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) on Saturday ordered flags to be lowered to half-staff to honor victims of the shooting in Virginia Beach on Friday in which 12 people were killed.

The flags will remain at half-staff until sunset on June 8, according to a tweet from Virginia Capitol Police.

Northam also tweeted out the names of the 12 victims, 11 of whom were employees of the city. The other was a contractor. Officials identified the victims earlier Saturday.{mosads}

“You will never be forgotten,” he wrote.

He also visited the hospital to thank medical teams and meet with victims’ families. 

At around 4 p.m. on Friday, a shooter entered a Virginia Beach municipal building and “began to indiscriminately fire upon all the victims” using a .45-caliber handgun with extended magazines, authorities said.

The suspected gunman, who was identified by authorities as a public utilities engineer, was killed in what officials characterized as a “long-term gun battle” with four police officers.

Four other people were injured in the incident.