WASHINGTON, April 17 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush Tuesday ordered flags flown at half staff to mark the deaths of those killed during the shooting rampage at Virginia Tech.
Bush issued a proclamation before heading for the Blacksburg, Va., campus to attend a convocation.
Cho Seung-hui, 23, a South Korean English major, has been identified as the gunman who killed 30 people at Norris Hall Monday before turning his gun on himself. Police have yet to determine if he also was the gunman who killed two people earlier at one of the campus dorms.
"Our nation grieves with those who have lost loved ones at Virginia Tech. We hold the victims in our hearts," the proclamation reads. "We lift them up in our prayers, and we ask a loving God to comfort those who are suffering.
"As a mark of respect for the victims of the senseless acts of violence perpetrated on Monday, April 16, 2007, 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, Sunday, April 22, 2007."
