U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday issued a proclamation ordering flags to be flown at half-staff to honor the victims of the shootings in the Atlanta Metropolitan area.
According to the proclamation, U.S. flags will be flown at half-staff at the White House and other federal buildings and on military bases, as well as embassies and other facilities abroad, until sunset on March 22 "as a mark of respect for the victims of the senseless acts of violence perpetrated on March 16, 2021, in the Atlanta Metropolitan area."
Biden also altered the agenda of his pre-scheduled trip with Vice President Kamala Harris to Atlanta on Friday, postponing an "evening political event" and meeting instead with "Asian-American leaders to discuss the ongoing attacks and threats against the community," the White House said in a statement.
The trip was initially designed to rally for the 1.9-trillion-dollar coronavirus relief bill Biden recently signed into law.
Eight people, six of whom were Asian and two were white, were killed in three shooting incidents in the Atlanta area by a suspect identified as 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long, who is now detained and charged with eight counts of murder and one count of aggravated assault.
The attacks came amid a troubling spike in violence against the Asian American community during the coronavirus pandemic, and although the motive in the carnage has not been determined by police, some public officials and anti-discrimination organizations have suspected the role of racism in the crime.
Long's court appearance, originally scheduled for Thursday, was canceled at the request of the defendant's attorney.
