News

Boehner orders Capitol flags at half-staff after Tennessee shooting

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has ordered flags at the U.S. Capitol to be flown at half-staff following last week’s shooting in Chattanooga, Tenn., that left five service members dead. 

The news came in a tweet from Boehner’s account early Tuesday: 

{mosads}Boehner said last week that he was “deeply saddened” by the “cowardly” shooting that left four Marines dead last Thursday. Another sailor died two days later of his wounds.

Kuwait-born Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez, 24, opened fire at a Navy recruiting center and later exchanged fire with law enforcement at a Navy and Marines reserve center, according to authorities. He died in the gunfight.

Officials are investigating the shooting as an act of domestic terrorism, and several lawmakers have pushed for a congressional investigation and for the Pentagon to change its firearms policy to allow service members to be armed at domestic military facilities.