Gavin Newsom orders Capitol flags at half-staff following Stockton mass shooting

Graham Womack, The Sacramento Bee on Dec 1, 2025

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Flags at the California state Capitol in Sacramento will fly at half-staff, Gov. Gavin Newsom tweeted Monday afternoon. His proclamation came two days after a mass shooting at a child’s birthday party in Stockton that killed at least four people, including three children, and wounded 11 other people.

“As more details emerge about this horrific shooting, my heart is with the families of the victims and the entire Stockton community,” Newsom tweeted on the website X through his gubernatorial account. “No child should ever have their life taken from them.”

Newsom’s tweet continued, “I’ve ordered flags at the state Capitol to fly at half-staff to honor the children we mourn and stand with the community as it grieves.”

Flags are periodically flow at half-staff in California, sometimes on Newsom’s order, other times not. In September, Newsom announced that flags would be flown half-staff in honor of John Burton, a longtime legislator and state Democratic Party leader who died Sept. 7 at 92.

It was around the same time that the White House ordered flags to be flown at half-staff on all public buildings following the assassination of conservative media personality Charlie Kirk. This led to flags being flown at half-staff at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento, capital region schools and all government buildings.

People were quick to criticize Newsom’s tweet Monday on X, which was formerly known as Twitter and has shifted sharply to the right politically after its purchase by billionaire Elon Musk in 2022.

“Flying the flag at half-staff doesn’t fix what your soft-on-crime policies created,” tweeted user @RealAntiWoke in reply to Newsom. “You pushed early releases, zero bail and handcuffed law enforcement.“

Another X user, @NoNewsom28 tweeted in reply to Newsom, “As more details emerge, we will undoubtedly learn that the shooter or shooters were released early from prison and had multiple prior arrests for guns.”

Newsom’s tweet didn’t indicate how long flags would remain at half-staff.

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