President Obama Speaks on the Washington Navy Yard Shooting
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/09/16/president-obama-speaks-washington-navy-yard-shooting?utm_source=snapshot&utm_medium=email&utm_content=091613-topper
Today, before delivering remarks on the economy, President
Obama gave a brief statement about the tragic events at the Washington Navy
Yard.
“We still don’t know all the facts, but we do know that
several people have been shot, and some have been killed,” he said. “So we are
confronting yet another mass shooting -- and today, it happened on a military
installation in our nation’s capital.”
It’s a shooting that targeted our military and civilian
personnel. These are men and women who
were going to work, doing their job, protecting all of us. They’re patriots,
and they know the dangers of serving abroad -- but today, they faced
unimaginable violence that they wouldn't have expected here at home.
So we offer our gratitude to the Navy and local law enforcement,
federal authorities, and the doctors who’ve responded with skill and
bravery. I’ve made it clear to my team
that I want the investigation to be seamless, so that federal and local
authorities are working together. And as
this investigation moves forward, we will do everything in our power to make
sure whoever carried out this cowardly act is held responsible.
In the meantime, we send our thoughts and prayers to all at
the Navy Yard who’ve been touched by this tragedy. We thank them for their service. We stand with the families of those who’ve
been harmed. They’re going to need our
love and support. And as we learn more
about the courageous Americans who died today -- their lives, their families,
their patriotism -- we will honor their service to the nation they helped to
make great. And obviously, we're going
to be investigating thoroughly what happened, as we do so many of these
shootings, sadly, that have happened, and do everything that we can to try to
prevent them.
President Obama also called Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus
to express his condolences to the families and colleagues of the victims of
today’s mass shooting and ordered U.S. flags to be flown at half-staff until
sunset on September 20.
Honoring the Victims of the Tragedy at the Washington Navy Yard
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/09/16/honoring-victims-tragedy-washington-navy-yard-0
HONORING THE VICTIMS OF THE TRAGEDY AT THE WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
As a mark of respect for the victims of the senseless acts
of violence perpetrated on September 16, 2013, at the Washington Navy Yard, by
the authority vested in me as President of the United States by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby order that
the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at the White House
and upon all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval
stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of
Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions
until sunset, September 20, 2013. 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.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
sixteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord two thousand thirteen, and
of the Independence of the United States of America the two
hundred and thirty-eighth.