A California shop owner, community leader, and mother of nine children was killed Friday by a man who objected to her flying a Pride flag outside her clothing store and then shot her.
Laura Ann Carleton (“Lauri”), 66, was pronounced dead at the scene by emergency medical personnel responding to reports of a shooting at her Mag.Pi store in Cedar Glen, a small community about 80 miles east of Los Angeles.
According to a report by the San Bernadino County Sheriff’s Office, “the suspect made several disparaging remarks about a rainbow flag that stood outside the store before shooting Carleton.” The suspect, armed with a handgun, fled on foot but was located by deputies, whereupon “a lethal force encounter occurred and the suspect was pronounced deceased.”
Carleton and her husband had been married 28 years, according to her bio on the Mag.Pi website, and have a blended family of nine children, the youngest of whom are identical twin girls.
Actor Bridget Everett, a friend of Carleton, noted on Instagram that this was not the first time Carleton’s flag had been attacked. “In the past, when someone took down her flag or vandalized it, she’d put up another one,” Everett wrote. “The last time I saw Lauri was, oddly enough, at Lake Arrowhead pride both in the parade and then at a party. All that anti-LGBTQ rhetoric has a price.”
Film director Paul Feig, also a friend of Carleton, posted on Instagram that “We are all devastated for her husband Bort and her family and the LGBTQ+ community, for whom Lauri was such a true ally.” He added, “Anyone using hateful language against the LGBTQ+ community has to realize their words matter, that their words can inspire violence against innocent loving people. Let’s all keep moving forward with tolerance and love. Let’s not let Lauri’s tragic death be in vain.”
Carleton had worked in fashion since her early teens, first at a family shoe business and then at the famed department store Joseph Magnin Century City and as an executive at Kenneth Cole before opening Mag.Pi.
She was also a founding member of the local Mountain Provisions Cooperative, which wrote on Instagram that she was “a pillar in our community, an immovable force in her values for equality, love, and justice.” She 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 Cooperative urged people to “Pay an act of kindness forward” and “Fly your flags in honor of Lauri. love will prevail.”
The Sheriff’s Department also noted:
This investigation is ongoing, and no further details are being released. Anyone with information regarding this incident is urged to contact the Homicide Detail at 909-890-4904. Callers wishing to remain anonymous should contact the We-Tip Hotline at 1-800-78-CRIME (27463) or got to www.wetip.com.
This is a terrible tragedy, no doubt, and my heart goes out to Carleton’s children, husband, and friends. As we honor Carleton and her allyship, though, let us also remember the many members of the LGBTQ community who have also died by violence, particularly trans, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming people of color, whose deaths have made far fewer headlines. May we recommit to working towards a world of understanding and peace for everyone.