A gunman shot and killed the owner of a California clothing store in what some say was a hate crime. Laura Ann Carleton, 66, was a mother of nine children and the well-loved owner of the Mag.Pi store in Lake Arrowhead, as well as an advocate for the LGBTQ community. The shooter, who was later killed by police after leaving the scene, reportedly had a problem with the Pride flag Carleton had displayed outside of her store.
The incident occurred Friday afternoon around 5 p.m., according to a media release from the San Bernadino County Sheriff’s Office. The shooter was not named. Carleton’s family will miss the woman they say accepted everyone for who they were without exception.
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The suspect reportedly harassed Carleton before the shooting.
The sheriff’s department said the alleged shooter “made several disparaging remarks about a rainbow flag that stood outside the store before shooting Carleton.”
Her daughter, Ari Carleton, 28, told the New York Times that after the shooting the family opened a package that had been left at their doorstep for their deceased mother. It was a new Pride flag she had ordered. The one at the shop was faded.
This isn’t the first time Carleton encountered trouble with her Pride flag.
Ari Carleton told the Times that her mother opened Mag.Pi two years ago, and her gay pride flags had been removed numerous times by other people. But that didn’t stop the “fearless” mother from defending the LGBTQ community: She’d just put up another one. The Lake Arrowhead LGBTQ+ Community website has Mag.Pi listed as an ally.
Carleton was a ‘pillar of the community.’
She and her husband, Bort, were married for 28 years and shared their blended family of nine children. The couple was essential to the Lake Arrowhead community and ensured that its people were taken care of and loved. The community was shaken by a rare blizzard earlier this year, and the Carletons sprang into action to help those in need.
The couple helped a local grocery store set up a free site to help those affected by the blizzard. Mountain Provisions Cooperative remembered their friend in a Facebook post.
“Lauri and her husband Bort were pivotal in organizing our Free Store which provided free food and supplies for 4 months after the blizzard. Lauri put her whole heart into keeping it going as long as we could," the post reads. "Pay an act of kindness forward in her honor. Our community needs as much as love as we can get right now.”
She was known as a fierce advocate and friend to the LGBTQ community.
On its Facebook page, Lake Arrowhead LGBTQ shared its love for Carleton and her work supporting its community.
“Lauri’s unwavering support for the LBGTQ+ community and her dedication to creating a safe space within her shop touched the lives of many,” the organization wrote in an Instagram Story. “Her untimely passing in a senseless act of violence has left us all deeply saddened.”
Comments on the page echoed their support.
“I am shocked to read of this senseless tragedy. My deepest sympathies to Lauri’s family and friends. Fly more flags – be not shaken by the unfathomable and reprehensible hatred,” one follower wrote.
“This is terrible the hate that is flaring up against LGBTQ people is so very wrong. So sorry to hear this. Be aware and condolences,” someone agreed.
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News of Carleton’s death shocked the community and beyond.
There are dozens of social media posts dedicated to Carleton, including love from actress Jamie Lee Curtis. She shared Carleton’s story on her Facebook page. “I feel deeply saddened by this. This is our country now and we can’t look away," the star wrote. "Rest in peace Laura Ann Carleton, a mother of nine. Thank you for your allyship. Thank you for your love. I’ll never forget you.”
Lake Arrowhead LGBTQ shared on Facebook that there are plans for a vigil for Carleton when her family can gather with the community and remember the woman who touched so many lives.
“I just want the world to remember her for who she was, and that she passed away in a place that she cherished, doing what she loved and defending something that was so important to her,” Ari Carlton told the Times.
The sheriff’s office said the investigation is ongoing and no further details would be released.
