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.

Per an order Saturday morning from @GovernorVA, Virginia flags are to be lowered to half staff across the state until sunset, June 8, in memory of the victims of Friday’s shootings in Virginia Beach.

— Va Capitol Police (@VaCapitolPolice) June 1, 2019

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. 

Laquita C. Brown
Tara Welch Gallagher
Mary Louise Gayle
Alexander Mikhail Gusev
Katherine A. Nixon
Richard H. Nettleton
Christopher Kelly Rapp
Ryan Keith Cox
Joshua A. Hardy
Michelle “Missy” Langer
Robert “Bobby” Williams
Herbert “Bert” Snelling

You will never be forgotten.

— Ralph Northam (@GovernorVA) June 1, 2019

This morning I visited Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital to thank the doctors and medical teams caring for the injured, and to meet with their families. This Commonwealth will continue to stand with them. #VirginiaBeachStrong pic.twitter.com/GsxnMDjJX0

— Ralph Northam (@GovernorVA) June 1, 2019 

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.