text: President Obama has ordered flags at the White House and other federal buildings to fly at half-staff after mounting criticism over the delay in honoring five armed forces members killed last week by a gunman. 
   
   Obama's proclamation calls for the flags to remain at half-staff through Saturday “as a mark of respect for the victims of the senseless acts of violence perpetrated on July 16.” 
   
   White House flag lowered to half-staff in honor of service members killed in Chattanooga pic.twitter.com/S2b9OSfrVH — Dan Linden (@DanLinden) July 21, 2015 
   
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   “Our thoughts and prayers as a Nation are with the service members killed last week in Chattanooga. We honor their service. We offer our gratitude to the police officers and first responders who stopped the rampage and saved lives,” Obama said in a presidential proclamation released Tuesday. 
   
   “We draw strength from yet another American community that has come together with an unmistakable message to those who would try to do us harm: We do not give into fear. You cannot divide us. And you will not change our way of life.” 
   
   Obama announced his decision hours after Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) ordered flags at the U.S. Capitol to be flown at half-staff. 
   
   Ahead of Obama's decision, conservatives lined up to pan the president for failing to lower the flag. They noted that various governors around the country have done so and that the White House had lowered its flags after other mass shootings. 
   
   Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), the chairman of the House Armed Service Committee, issued a statement earlier Tuesday asking Obama to do the “right thing” by lowering the flags. And Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), a veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, panned Obama as well. 
   
   “Five service members were killed on American soil, and the idea that the Commander in Chief is so far unwilling to lower flags in their honor is unconscionable,” he said. 
   
   “The flag and all it represents is sacred to our military, and the President must know that lowering the flag is a signal of honor and respect. The President should make this call immediately.” 
   
   Marcus Luttrell, a retired Navy SEAL whose story became the bestselling book Lone Survivor and a movie starring Mark Wahlberg, also took to Facebook on Monday night to call on the president to lower the flag. ||||| (CNN) The White House and U.S. Capitol both lowered flags to half staff by Tuesday afternoon, after they were out of sync Tuesday in their tributes to the five U.S. service members who were slain by a gunman in Chattanooga last week. 
   
   House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky announced Tuesday that flags at the Capitol would be lowered to half-staff in honor of the victims. 
   
   "Out of respect for their courageous service and sacrifice to our nation, flags at the U.S. Capitol are being lowered to half-staff," Boehner said in a statement. 
   
   But at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, the flags at the White House noticeably remained at full-staff. Aides to the president have repeatedly declined to discuss whether the flags at the White House would be similarly lowered. Boehner's office said Tuesday that they had alerted the White House of their plans. 
   
   Photos: Deadly shooting in Chattanooga, Tennessee Photos: Deadly shooting in Chattanooga, Tennessee An FBI investigator works outside a military recruiting center where a gunman opened fire Thursday, July 16, in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Authorities say Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez, 24, opened fire first on the recruiting station and then moved to a U.S. Navy facility seven miles away. At the Navy facility, he fatally shot four U.S. Marines and wounded three other people before he died in police gunfire. A U.S. Navy sailor later died from his wounds. Hide Caption 1 of 12 Photos: Deadly shooting in Chattanooga, Tennessee Abdulazeez was born in Kuwait and had Jordanian citizenship, law enforcement officials said. He was a naturalized U.S. citizen. Hide Caption 2 of 12 Photos: Deadly shooting in Chattanooga, Tennessee A woman places a balloon and flowers at a makeshift memorial outside the military recruiting center on Friday, July 17. Hide Caption 3 of 12 Photos: Deadly shooting in Chattanooga, Tennessee The Rev. Drew McCallie prays during a church service in Chattanooga on July 16. Hide Caption 4 of 12 Photos: Deadly shooting in Chattanooga, Tennessee Members of the FBI gather evidence at the scene of the recruiting center shooting on July 16. Hide Caption 5 of 12 Photos: Deadly shooting in Chattanooga, Tennessee A police car blocks the entrances to the U.S. Navy Reserve Center on July 16. Hide Caption 6 of 12 Photos: Deadly shooting in Chattanooga, Tennessee A car believed to be driven by Abdulazeez is seen on the grounds of the Navy facility. Hide Caption 7 of 12 Photos: Deadly shooting in Chattanooga, Tennessee WTVC's Drew Bollea heard gunshots on Amnicola Highway near the Navy facility. Hide Caption 8 of 12 Photos: Deadly shooting in Chattanooga, Tennessee The gunman first opened fire at this military recruitment office located in a strip mall off Lee Highway in Chattanooga. Hide Caption 9 of 12 Photos: Deadly shooting in Chattanooga, Tennessee The entrance to the military recruiting office is seen riddled with bullet holes on July 16. Hide Caption 10 of 12 Photos: Deadly shooting in Chattanooga, Tennessee Blue evidence markers, believed to be the location of spent shell casings, can be seen here. Gina Mule, a server at a restaurant who took this photo, said she saw a man in a car firing a "high-powered rifle" at the recruiting offices at about 10:50 a.m. ET Thursday. Hide Caption 11 of 12 Photos: Deadly shooting in Chattanooga, Tennessee An officer patrols the parking lot of the recruitment center. Hide Caption 12 of 12 
   
   "I don't have more information about the status of the flag over the White House," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters Monday. Earnest had nearly the same response for reporters Tuesday. 
   
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target: – Flags are flying at half-staff in front of the White House and the Capitol today in honor of the victims of last week's Chattanooga shootings. President Obama ordered the move at the White House “as a mark of respect for the victims of the senseless acts of violence perpetrated," and the flag will remain that way through Saturday. Obama made the decision soon after John Boehner and Mitch McConnell announced they would lower flags at the Capitol, reports CNN. For a brief period today, flags at either end of Pennsylvania were out of sync on the matter. Obama, in fact, had been taking criticism from the right for not lowering the flags right away, notes the Hill.