Alabama county refuses to lower flag to honor Orlando shooting victims
Story highlights
- Baldwin Co. Commissioner said the incident "doesn't meet the test"
- President Obama ordered the flag to be lowered Sunday
Washington (CNN)Alabama
county officials refused to lower flags to half-staff to honor the
victims of the Orlando mass shooting this week even after President
Barack Obama and Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley ordered flags to be lowered.
Citing the U.S. Flag Code, Baldwin County Commissioner Tucker Dorsey told CNN affiliate WPMI that
while his "heart certainly goes out to the victims and their families,"
the incident "doesn't meet the test of the reason for the flag to be
lowered."
Dorsey
added that the code states that the flag is to be lowered on Memorial
Day and to commemorate the deaths of government officials.
In a Facebook post published Tuesday, Dorsey wrote that Baldwin County also didn't lower the flags after the Paris terror attacks last November and the shooting in San Bernardino, California last December by a married couple who pledged allegiance to ISIS.
Obama ordered the flags to be flown at half-staff Sunday following the mass shooting at Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, early Sunday that left 49 dead and 53 injured.
"I
realize that the President and Governor may make the order, but I
believe and interpret their order inconsistent with the adopted flag
code," Dorsey told the NY Daily News.
The Orlando tragedy is the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.
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