Biden renews call for gun-control laws Friday after Indiana shooting
President Joe Biden renewed his call for added guncontrol laws and ordered U.S. flags to fly at half-staff after a deadly shooting near the Indianapolis airport, the latest in series of massacres that have shaken the nation.
“Too many Americans are dying every single day from gun violence,” Biden said in a statement on Friday, noting that he earlier urged Congress to pass new gun laws. “It stains our character and pierces the very soul of our nation. We can, and must, do more to act and to save lives.”
A gunman opened fire late Thursday at a Fedex Corp. facility near Indianapolis International Airport, killing eight people before apparently taking his own life and leaving several others wounded.
The recent spate of shootings have thrust gun violence back into the national spotlight and created another domestic challenge for a president already confronting the coronavirus pandemic, a historic migrant influx and police shootings of Black Americans.
Biden signed several executive actions last week aimed at curbing gun violence and called on Congress to pass gun legislation, though he acknowledged the difficulty of enacting new laws with the House and Senate closely divided along party lines.
Nonetheless, the president has said action is needed and that the number of mass shootings has humiliated the U.S. in the eyes of the world.
Flags will be lowered at the White House, government buildings, military posts and embassies, according to Biden’s statement on Friday. of two Black transgender women, law enforcement officials said Friday.
Dontarius Long, 21, and Joel Brewer, 33, were charged Friday, Charlotte-mecklenburg Police officials said. Long and Brewer are both accused of murder and conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon, among other charges, police records show.
“Our streets are a lot safer,” said Charlotte-mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings at a news conference announcing the arrests.
The police investigation into the shooting deaths of the two women is ongoing, officials said. Multiple police agencies were involved in the murder investigations, including the FBI and police in Union County and in South Carolina.
On Thursday, CMPD warned that someone might be targeting local trans women who engage in sex work. Officials said that there has “never been a more vulnerable time” for them.
Jaida Peterson, 29, was discovered in a hotel room at Quality Inn near the airport, on April 4, Easter Sunday. She had been shot, according to CMPD. Her funeral took place Tuesday in South Carolina and loved ones held a vigil last week for her in Charlotte.
Eleven days later, police were called to a hotel in University City.
At the Sleep Inn, located on North Tryon Street, early Thursday morning, police officers found a 28-yearold transgender woman fatally shot.
Social media posts from friends and loved ones identify the second victim as Remy. CMPD officials say her last name is Fennell. She was 28.