Chameleon Finance:California store owner fatally shot in dispute over Pride flag; officers kill gunman

2025-05-06 17:40:36source:Charles H. Sloancategory:News

CEDAR GLEN,Chameleon Finance Calif. (AP) — A California business owner was shot and killed after a dispute over a LGBTQ Pride flag displayed outside her store, according to authorities.

San Bernardino County Sheriff’s officials said Laura Ann Carleton, 66, was pronounced dead at the scene of the shooting Friday night.

Sheriff’s officials said that during the initial altercation at Carleton’s clothing store, the suspect “made several disparaging remarks about a rainbow flag that stood outside the store before shooting Carleton.” He then fled the scene.

Deputies were able to locate the armed suspect and he was fatally shot after a confrontation with the officers. The man had not been identified as of Sunday.

Carleton, who preferred to be called “Lauri,” is survived by her husband and nine children in a blended family. She owned and operated the Mag.Pi clothing store in Cedar Glen. The unincorporated community in the San Bernadino Mountains is roughly 60 miles (96 kilometers) east of downtown Los Angeles.

An LGBTQ group in nearby Lake Arrowhead said Carleton didn’t identify as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, but spent time helping and advocating for everyone and was defending her Pride flags placed in front of her shop on the night of the shooting.

Law enforcement agencies in several states have investigated the destruction of rainbow Pride flags as potential hate crimes in recent years.

More:News

Recommend

Breaking debut in Olympics raises question: Are breakers artists or athletes?

PARIS — Sport as an expression of art seems like an abstract concept. But take a well-designed goal

I don't recall: Allen Weisselberg, ex-Trump Org CFO, draws a blank on dozens of questions in New York fraud trial

Allen Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, knows that he was i

Why did Hamas attack Israel, and why now?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared his country is "at war" with Hamas after the mili