Every time someone ripped down the rainbow Pride flag from the Mag.Pi clothing store in the San Bernardino mountains in California, store owner Laura Ann Carleton responded by putting up a bigger one.
Carleton, 66, did not waver in her support of LGBTQ people.
Around 5 p.m. Friday, she was shot by a man who made disparaging remarks about the shop’s Pride flag, authorities said.
The man, whose identity has not been released, fled the scene on foot. Deputies found him with a handgun, and he was killed in an encounter with law enforcement, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement.
The department said “detectives learned the suspect made several disparaging remarks about a rainbow flag that stood outside the store before shooting Carleton.”
It was unclear whether the shooting was being investigated as a hate crime, and additional details of what preceded the attack were not available Sunday. Sheriff’s Department officials were not immediately available to comment.
The shooting — in Cedar Glen, near Lake Arrowhead, California — came about a month after the Anti-Defamation League and the LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD released a report indicating a recent rise in anti-LGBTQ harassment, vandalism or assault in the United States.
Carleton’s daughter Ari Carleton, 28, said that her mother was “fearless” and put the needs of others ahead of her own. Carleton had been a pillar in the community, she added.
Carleton preached “love, acceptance and equality,” her daughter said, and those values were reflected in her store, Mag.Pi, where she carried a collection of personally curated, high-quality and ethically sourced clothes, and sometimes her own designs.
The Pride flag hanging outside Mag.Pi was removed numerous times by different people since the store opened two years ago, Ari Carleton said.
The store is listed as a “business ally” by Lake Arrowhead LGBTQ+, a community group.
“Lauri did not identify as LGBTQ+, but spent her time helping & advocating for everyone in the community,” the group said on Facebook. “She will be truly missed.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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