State and federal flags remain lowered across Tennessee to honor the servicemen who died Thursday during shootings at two military sites in Chattanooga. But they are still flying high at the White House, and that’s drawn ire from lawmakers and a host of others across social media.
“I am disappointed that this is the case,” U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann told Times Free Press editors and reporters Monday. “We have asked at our federal offices that they be lowered to [half-staff], as well as at the Oak Ridge facility, and they have acquiesced.”
U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais had similar comments Monday.
The American flag flies at half-staff Saturday in Coolidge Park after Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam ordered it lowered in honor of victims of the July 16 shootings in Chattanooga.“It needs to happen, and it needs to happen soon,” he told the Fox Business Network.
On Thursday, Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez drove to a military recruiting center in a Lee Highway strip mall and opened fire with a high-powered rifle from his convertible, injuring a recruiter. Then he drove to the U.S. Naval and Marine Reserve Center on Amnicola Highway and killed Marines Carson Holmquist, Thomas Sullivan, Skip Wells and David Wyatt. U.S. Navy sailor Randall Smith died two days later from shooting injuries.