Honoring Ella Cook

TO: Alabama State Agencies

FROM: Governor Kay Ivey

DATE: Monday, December 15, 2025

RE: Flags Lowered in Memory of Shooting Victim Ella Cook of Alabama

I hereby authorize flags be flown at half-staff effective immediately on the grounds of the Alabama State Capitol Complex in Montgomery and throughout the state of Alabama until sunset, Friday, December 19, 2025, in memory of Ella Cook of Mountain Brook who lost her life at the hands of a shooter at Brown University.

On Saturday evening, December 13, 2025, two students were murdered and many more were injured during a shooting on the campus of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Among those who lost their lives was Alabama native Ella Cook, a 19-year-old Brown University sophomore from Mountain Brook. She was much beloved in her community, her church and among her classmates at Brown University. Her pastor, Rev. Craig Smalley of Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham observed, “She was an incredible, grounded, faithful bright light… Not only here, growing up here at the Advent and myriad ways in which she served faithfully and the ways she encouraged and lifted up those around her, but at Brown University, she was an incredible light in that particular place as well.” As all of Alabama wraps our arms around Ella’s family in prayer, I also join in mourning her loss.

Accordingly, I direct all flags on the grounds of the State Capitol Complex in Montgomery and throughout the state of Alabama may be flown at half-staff effective immediately until sunset, Friday, December 19, 2025, in memory of Ella Cook of Mountain Brook.

KI/ml