Biden Orders U.S. Flags At Half-Staff In Wake Of Atlanta Spa Shootings

President Biden and Vice President Harris plan to travel to Atlanta on Friday, where they will meet with leaders of the city's Asian American community in the aftermath of a deadly shooting spree there this week that left eight people dead, including six women of Asian descent.

Meanwhile, Biden issued a proclamation for U.S. flags on federal buildings to be lowered to half-staff through sunset Monday to mark the massacre in Georgia.

Biden said he was ordering the flags lowered "as a mark of respect for the victims of the senseless acts of violence" on Tuesday, when police say a lone gunman fatally shot the victims at three Atlanta metropolitan spas.

The suspect, 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long, was charged on Wednesday with four counts of murder and one count of assault in Cherokee County, north of Atlanta, where three women and one man were fatally shot at Young's Asian Massage. Long is also charged with murder in Atlanta, where four women were killed at two separate spas.