When a clothing store opened in Cedar Glen, Calif., in the summer of 2021, the owner hung a Pride flag at the entrance, her friends recalled. Whenever someone would tear down the flag, owner Laura Carleton would raise another one.
But after someone complained about the flag on Friday, the encounter turned deadly.
A man arrived at the store, Mag.pi, around 5 p.m. and criticized Carleton’s Pride flag before he shot her, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. Carleton, 66, was pronounced dead at the scene.
The shooter, whom authorities have not publicly identified, died following “a lethal force encounter” with deputies after the shooting, the sheriff’s department said in a statement.
Community members have since rallied around Carleton’s store, placing Pride flags, flowers, candles and photos of Carleton in front of it. Matthew Clevenger of Lake Arrowhead LGBTQ+ said Carleton was a strong ally of the LGBTQ+ community.
“She was a fierce protector of everybody being who they wanted to be,” Clevenger told The Washington Post.
Carleton, who went by Lauri, began working in fashion as a teenager at her family’s business, Fred Segal in Los Angeles, according to Mag.pi’s website. After graduating from the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, Calif., Carleton worked at a retail store before joining Kenneth Cole in the 1980s. Carleton worked for the fashion company for more than 15 years as an executive.
In 2013, Carleton founded her clothing store, Mag.pi, on Ventura Boulevard in Studio City, Calif. She added a second store in Cedar Glen in 2021. While she built her career, Carleton married her husband and took pride in their blended family of nine children, her store’s website says.
Carleton was one of the largest donors to Lake Arrowhead LGBTQ+ and attended the organization’s Pride boat parade in June, Clevenger said. A section of Mag.pi was dedicated to rainbow-colored products, and she displayed rainbow candles by the cash register, he said.
Carleton helped create a culture in which the LGBTQ+ community felt accepted, Clevenger said. But some community members were still resistant, he added, and took down Mag.pi’s Pride flag multiple times.
After making “disparaging remarks” about the Pride flag on Friday, a man shot Carleton before fleeing, according to the sheriff’s department. He was holding a handgun when deputies found him on a nearby road, where he later died, officials said.
How many normal people will we allow conservatives to kill before we act? History has shown that an infestation of conservatism cannot be cured by pacifism.
The war conservatives insist on waging against normal people will look exactly like this story. Conservative murders normal person in act of terrorism.
Do your part to train and prepare. You don't have to be a fighter to help others. Learn to evac wounded and administer trauma first aid. Teach others. Do your part.
It’s definitely going that direction, and with no one willing to do what it takes to shut them down, America is destined to end up in another civil war.
Of course, I’ve no doubt it’ll be over quickly and the conservative party will be abolished- it’ll still result in an unnecessary loss of a lot of lives.
What an embarrassment america has become.
There is nothing conservative about radical rightwing authoritarianism. They are fascists.
There's no reclaiming the label "conservative". We lost it. We need a new brand.
How about what an American Conservative is supposed to be conserving, what the parts of the world with a vaguely educated population calls them:
Liberal.
Well no. Conservative, to me, means a federal government that's pretty much powerless to change anything in the States (10th amendment), that doesn't invade the privacy of Americans (4th amendment), and that doesn't go around waging war without declaration.
That's not what we have. That's not what either conservatives or liberals want, so we need a new label.
That's liberalism. You just don't know what it means.
It's classical liberalism, but the meaning of the word "liberal" has changed.
I'm not really interested in whatever Newspeak the people actively attacking democracy, education, and our Constitutional rights push, be they Reagan-type neoliberals or modern "conservatives" who sure do use a lot of dogwhistles they hope decent people are too clueless by design to hear until it's too late.
When someone tells you they hate socialists and they're definitely not a liberal, connect the dots.
Tbh in most of the civilized world 'liberal' is not a compliment. American brought tankies, wokies and liberals to the worldwide left, and that is NOT something to be celebrated (or maybe as the CIA's best psyop)
You're allowed to disagree. This man wasn't killed by police because he disagreed with the shop owner having a rainbow flag. They killed him because he murdered her and (presumably) didn't surrender when they caught up to him.
I think what you're talking about is the rest of us calling out your bigotry. That's not oppression or control by the government. That's society leaving you and your outdated beliefs behind.
There is never a reason to debate or enter a conversation with a conservative. Every word uttered by a conservative is deception or manipulation. Every word.
Conservatives insist on communicating through violence. So be it.
Let's compare:
Versus
They want to be treated like human beings. Nothing insane about that.
And won??? So there's not a current moment to ban books talking about LGBTQ people? There's not a "don't say gay" bill in Florida? There's not people attacking trans kids and adults and making it illegal for them to get healthcare? Phew. I was so worried about all those things.