Ducey orders flags at half-staff for Thousand Oaks shooting victims
Nov 8, 2018, 1:15 PM
(AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
PHOENIX — Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey ordered flags at all state buildings to be lowered to half-staff in honor of the 12 people who were killed late Wednesday during a shooting at a country dance bar in Southern California.
Ducey announced Thursday that the flags would be lowered until sunset on Nov. 10 “in honor and remembrance of the victims in the Thousand Oaks shooting.
“Our hearts are with the victims, their families and all those affected in the Thousand Oaks community,” he said in a tweet.
In honor and remembrance of the victims in the Thousand Oaks shooting, flags at all state buildings have been lowered to half-staff until sunset on Nov. 10. Our hearts are with the victims, their families and all those affected in the Thousand Oaks community.
— Doug Ducey (@dougducey) November 8, 2018
The suspected gunman, identified as Ian David Long, a 28-year-old veteran, opened fire at Borderline Bar and Grill as the bar was holding a weekly “college night.”
Long allegedly used a handgun and a smoke device to kill 12 people and send hundreds fleeing, authorities said Thursday.
Terrified revelers used barstools to break second-floor windows and jump to safety to escape the dance bar, where the gunman was later found dead. Those killed in the shooting Wednesday night also included 11 people inside the bar and a sheriff’s sergeant who was the first officer inside the door, Ventura County Sheriff Geoff Dean said.
“It’s a horrific scene in there,” Dean told a news conference in the parking lot of the Borderline Bar & Grill. “There’s blood everywhere.”
Dean said Long was armed with a Glock 21, a .45-caliber handgun designed to hold 10 rounds plus one in the chamber. But the sheriff said the gun had an extended magazine that is illegal in California. The sheriff said he does not know how many rounds that magazine can hold.
Long had an episode of erratic behavior last spring that was thought to be post-traumatic stress disorder because of his military background.
President Donald Trump said Thursday on Twitter that he has been “fully briefed on the terrible shooting.” He praised law enforcement, saying “Great bravery shown by police” and said “God bless all of the victims and families of the victims.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.