AUGUSTA, Maine — Following President Joe Biden’s directive to lower all flags to half-staff, Maine Gov. Janet Mills is ordering the same statewide to honor the eight victims killed during a shooting rampage in the Atlanta area on Tuesday.
In Maine and across the U.S., flags will be flown at half-staff and will remain that way through Monday, March 22.
“On behalf of the people of Maine, I express our deepest condolences to the families and friends who are mourning the loss of their loved ones, and we share in the pain of Asian Americans as they seek to heal and feel safe in the wake of this horrific attack,” Mills said in a release Thursday. “As we pay tribute to their memories, let us do all we can to defend the lives, integrity, and equality of people of all races, creeds, national origins, religions, disabilities, genders, ages and sexual orientations.”
Biden said flags being flown at half-staff will serve “as a mark of respect for the victims of the senseless acts of violence."
A gunman was charged Wednesday with killing eight people at three Atlanta-area spas in an attack that sent terror through the Asian American community, which has increasingly been targeted during the coronavirus pandemic.
Biden on Wednesday tweeted his sympathy to the victims and those impacted by saying, "what we do know is that the Asian-American community is feeling enormous pain tonight."
He added: "The recent attacks against the community are un-American. They must stop."