President Trump on Thursday ordered all U.S. flags lowered to half-staff in honor of Sarah Beckstrom, the National Guard member who was killed last week in an ambush just blocks from the White House.
Mr. Trump said flags will be lowered at all federal buildings, military bases, U.S. embassies abroad, naval vessels and other government properties “as a mark of respect for the memory” of Spc. Beckstrom. The flags will be flown at half-staff until sunset Thursday.
Spc. Beckstrom, 20, was one of two West Virginia National Guard members hit in a targeted shooting on Nov. 26. The Army specialist died of her wounds the next day, Thanksgiving.
A second West Virginia National Guard member, Andrew Wolfe, 24, was wounded in the attack.
West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey on Monday said Staff Sgt. Wolfe, a member of the Air Force, remains in serious condition but has shown “positive” signs of recovery.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan who was also shot during the confrontation, pleaded not guilty to murder and assault charges Tuesday in his first hearing before a judge. He appeared remotely by video from a hospital bed.
Speaking during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Tuesday, Mr. Trump said he reached out to the families of Spc. Beckstrom and Staff Sgt. Wolfe “very soon after this horrible event took place.”
“I want to pay my deepest respects to those two incredible people from the National Guard in West Virginia,” the president said, adding he has spoken with Spc. Beckstrom’s family since she died from her injuries.
“Somebody said, ‘How are they doing?’ I said, ‘The word is devastated,’” Mr. Trump continued. “The rest of their lives, they’re going to be devastated.”
The president said Staff Sgt. Wolfe is still “fighting for his life.” He also praised the airman’s mother for remaining “positive” despite the frightening circumstances surrounding her son’s shooting.
“He’s fighting very hard,” the president said of Staff Sgt. Wolfe. “It would be amazing if he lives; it would be amazing — a miracle, actually — but we’re very proud of those two people.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi said she visited Staff Sgt. Wolfe in the hospital Monday and asked for continued prayers for his recovery.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle had called for the flag tribute.
“I am asking President Trump to have flags lowered to half-staff in her honor. Being that she was on duty so close to the White House and on a mission authorized by President Trump, as a West Virginia National Guard officer, it seems appropriate that she be honored in this way in her memory,” Rep. Steve Cohen, Tennessee Democrat, said in a statement last week.
Mr. Morrisey issued an official proclamation on Friday ordering all West Virginia flags and U.S. flags in the state to be lowered to half-staff through the end of the year in honor of Spc. Beckstrom.
