U.S. and Michigan flags are to be flown at half-staff for 6 days to honor those killed in Kalamazoo.

O'Reilly Challenge Practice And Qualifying
Photo: Jonathan Ferrey, Getty Images
loading...

Gov. Rick Snyder ordered U.S. and Michigan flags to be lowered to half-staff for six days starting Monday, Feb. 22, as a mark of respect for the victims of a mass shooting in Kalamazoo. (Read more of the press release here.)

The shootings are a senseless act of violence that claimed the lives of innocent citizens and injured two others. We will lower the flags for six days to honor each of the six who died. Our hearts are broken for the victims’ families and friends, and I join in mourning their loss.

-Gov. Snyder

The shootings occurred Saturday in three separate incidents, all allegedly by a suspect now in custody. Snyder praised the work of law enforcement agencies investigating the shootings: The Michigan State Police, Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Department and Kalamazoo Public Safety.

So far, police have identified the victims as Mary Lou Nye, 62, of Baroda; Mary Jo Nye, 60, of Battle Creek; Dorothy Brown, 74, of Battle Creek; and Barbara Hawthorne, 68, of Battle Creek. All were killed in the parking lot of a Cracker Barrel restaurant in Kalamazoo. A 14-year-old girl with the group is critically injured.

Police have not yet identified a father and son killed at the Seelye Ford Kia dealership in Kalamazoo, nor a woman who is hospitalized after being shot at Meadows Townhomes near Comstock.

When flown at half-staff or half-mast, the U.S. flag should be hoisted first to the peak for an instant and then lowered to the half-staff or half-mast position. The flag should again be raised to the peak before it is lowered for the day.

 

More From WKFR