Flags will remain at half-staff after Sept. 11. Here’s why
Flags were lowered to half-staff Thursday to honor the victims of the 2001 terrorist attacks. However, the flags will continue to be at half staff through the weekend for another reason.
Gov. Maura Healey ordered the United States of America flag and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts flag be lowered to half-staff at all state buildings beginning Thursday until sunset on Sept. 14 due to the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Kirk, 31, was shot and killed during an event at a Utah university on Wednesday and the person responsible for the shooting remains at large as of Thursday morning.
Kirk was the co-founder and CEO of Turning Point USA, and became a prominent conservative figure, regularly appearing on cable TV, where he leaned into the culture wars and heaped praise on President Donald Trump.
After detaining and releasing two persons of interest on Wednesday, FBI officials said Thursday morning that they have identified the person believed to be responsible for the shooting.
The officials did not name the suspect or release an image, but confirmed the shooter was "college age" and blended in with the crowd at Utah Valley University, where Kirk was speaking when he was shot and killed.
Investigators have since recovered a "high-powered" bolt-action rifle believed to be used in the shooting, said Robert Bohls, special agent in charge of the F.B.I.'s Salt Lake City office.
"We will relentlessly pursue this case and the shooter until we find him," Bohls said.
Authorities did not immediately identify a motive behind the killing of Kirk, who played an influential role in rallying young Republican voters. But the circumstances of the shooting drew renewed attention to an escalating threat of political violence in the United States that in the last several years has cut across the ideological spectrum. The assassination drew bipartisan condemnation, but a national reckoning over ways to prevent political grievances from manifesting as deadly violence seemed elusive.
Videos posted to social media from Utah Valley University show Kirk speaking into a handheld microphone while sitting under a white tent emblazoned with the slogans "The American Comeback" and "Prove Me Wrong." A gunshot rings out, and Kirk can be seen reaching up with his right hand as blood gushes from the left side of his neck. Stunned spectators gasp and scream before people start running away.
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
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