White House orders flags lowered to honor late police officers who responded to US Capitol breach

President Donald Trump ordered that the flag flying above the White House be lowered to half-staff on Sunday to honor US Capitol Police officers Brian Sicknick and Howard Liebengood, who were both on duty when a mob of Trump’s supporters stormed the US Capitol on Wednesday.

The step comes days after Capitol Police announced on Thursday that Sicknick had died “due to injuries sustained while on-duty.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had ordered flags at the US Capitol to be flown at half-staff the following day.

Liebengood, meanwhile, died while off duty, the Capitol Police said Sunday. The announcement did not state the officer’s cause of death.

“As a sign of respect for the service and sacrifice of United States Capitol Police Officers Brian D. Sicknick and Howard Liebengood, and all Capitol Police Officers and law enforcement across this great Nation, by the authority vested in me as President of the United States by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby order that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at the White House and upon all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions until sunset, January 13, 2021,” the proclamation from the President reads in part.

Both officers were on duty during Wednesday’s insurrection at the US Capitol. After hundreds of pro-Trump rioters pushed through barriers set up along the perimeter of the Capitol, demonstrators eventually made their way into the building and the House floor was evacuated by police.

Only after pleading from aides and congressional allies inside the besieged Capitol did Trump release a video urging the rioters to “go home,” while still fanning their baseless grievances about a stolen election.

Sicknick was injured while physically engaging with the rioters and collapsed after returning to his division office, the statement said. “He was taken to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries,” according to a Capitol Police statement.

Prosecutors in the US Attorney’s office plan to open a federal murder investigation into Sicknick’s death, a law enforcement official told CNN.

Sicknick joined the USCP in July 2008, and most recently served in the Department’s First Responder’s Unit.

“The entire USCP Department expresses its deepest sympathies to Officer Sicknick’s family and friends on their loss, and mourns the loss of a friend and colleague,” Capitol Police said.