Biden orders flags lowered to half-staff to honor victims of Nashville school shooting

U.S. President Joe Biden ordered flags at the White House and all federal buildings on Monday to be flown at half-staff until sunset on March 31 after a school shooting claimed the lives of three young children and three adults.

In a written statement, Biden said he took the move "as a mark of respect for the victims of the senseless acts of violence perpetrated on March 27, 2023 in Nashville, Tennessee."

"I also direct that the flag shall be flown at half-staff for the same length of time at all United States embassies, legations, consular offices, and other facilities abroad, including all military facilities and naval vessels and stations," he added.

Three children and three adults were gunned down at a private Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee, law enforcement officials said Monday as the U.S. grapples with yet another horrific school shooting.

The heavily armed shooter, 28-year-old Audrey Hale, a former student of the Covenant School, who identified as a transgender person, was killed during a shootout with a five-member police team that engaged them on the second floor of the Presbyterian school, which is associated with a church, authorities said.

Biden told reporters after the shooting that it was "a family's worst nightmare," reiterating his call for Congress to pass an assault weapons ban.