Donald Trump declines request to lower flags for Capital Gazette shooting victims, says Annapolis mayor

Donald Trump has reportedly refused to lower American flags in Maryland to honour the five people killed in a mass shooting at a newspaper in the state.

A lone gunman opened fire on the offices of Capital Gazette paper in Annapolis last week - killing four reporters and one supporting staff member.

The mayor of Annapolis has now said the US president turned down a request to lower flags in the city to half-staff in memory of those tragically killed.

Gavin Buckley said he was informed by Maryland Representative John Sarbanes of the decision to rebuff his request on Monday afternoon.

Mr Buckley said he was “disappointed” at Mr Trump’s apparent snub.

“Obviously, I’m disappointed, you know? … Is there a cutoff for tragedy?” Mr Buckley told the Baltimore Sun.

“This was an attack on the press. It was an attack on freedom of speech. It’s just as important as any other tragedy.”

Mr Buckley said he had even been thinking about moving the flags down himself but the Democratic congressman and his wife had managed to persuade him out of it - saying protocol needed to be adhered to.

"It would start to polarise people and I don't want to make people angry,” he said.

The flag is flown at half-staff on federal buildings by presidential proclamation as an emblem of respect after some mass shootings and in the wake of the deaths of public officials or prominent figures.

Mr Trump ordered the lowering of flags for other mass shootings including that in Santa Fe, Texas, which left ten dead at a local secondary school and the Valentine’s Day bloodshed at a secondary school in Parkland, Florida which saw 17 people killed.

It was also flown at half-staff after mass killings in Orlando and Brussels - with it being flown at half-staff 53 times in 2016.

Jarrod Ramos has been charged with five counts of murder in the wake of the Maryland shooting spree. The 38-year-old appeared in court on Friday morning where he was refused bail.

He reportedly had a long-standing grudge with the Capital Gazette and unsuccessfully tried to sue the newspaper for defamation in 2012 after it reported on a case in which he pleaded guilty to harassing a woman.

The Annapolis shooting - which was the deadliest attack of its kind targeting journalists in US history - began with a shotgun blast that shattered the glass entrance to the open newsroom.

The victims included Rob Hiaasen, 59, the paper's assistant managing editor; Wendi Winters, 65, a features reporter; Gerald Fischman, 61, the editorial page editor; 56-year-old sports reporter John McNamara and Rebecca Smith, 34, a sales assistant.

The paper’s staff released a letter on Sunday which took a veiled swipe at Mr Trump.

“We won’t forget being called an enemy of the people. No, we won’t forget that. Because exposing evil, shining light on wrongs and fighting injustice is what we do,” they wrote.

Mr Trump, who has become famed for launching barbed attacks on the media whom he brands “fake news”, has persistently used the phrase “enemy of the people” to refer to the press.

Nevertheless, the president did perform a U-turn on his usual condemnation of the press after the Maryland shooting – saying journalists should be able to work without fear of facing violent attack.

The comment raised eyebrows among many in the press given his frequent attacks on the press.

Many voiced disappointment about the reported refusal to lower the flags online and drew attention to previous comments Mr Trump has made about journalists.

"Wannabe despot who calls journalists 'the enemy of the people,' a 'stain on America' and 'scum' declines to honour slain members of the free press who were gunned down in their newsroom," political scientist Brain Klass wrote on Twitter.