Flags Lowered To Honor Slain US Capitol Police Officer
President Joseph Biden has ordered flags lowered, through Tuesday evening, to honor a US Capitol Police Officer who was killed in the line of duty yesterday afternoon.
The Presidential Proclamation was issued Friday evening.
“As a sign of respect for the service and sacrifice of the victims of the attack at the United States Capitol on Friday, April 2, 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, April 6, 2021,” the proclamation said in part.
Flags are to also be lowered at all US embassies, legations, consular offices, and other facilities abroad, including all military facilities and naval vessels and stations.
Following suit, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont also directed US and state flags in Connecticut to fly at half staff, for the same period.
Accordingly, since no flag should fly higher than the US flag, all other flags — including state, municipal, corporate, or otherwise — should also be lowered during this same duration of time.
According to the Associated Press, US Capitol Police William F. Evans died from injuries sustained after a man rammed a car into Evans and another US Capitol Police Officers at a barricade outside the US Capitol and then emerged wielding a knife. It was the second line-of-duty death this year for a department still struggling to heal from the January 6 insurrection.
Evans was an 18-year veteran who was a member of the department’s first responders unit.
Video shows the driver of the crashed car emerging with a knife in his hand and starting to run at the pair of officers, Capitol Police Acting Chief Yogananda Pittman told reporters. Authorities shot the suspect, who died at a hospital.