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 Carletonā€™s Pride flag before he shot her, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriffā€™s Department. Carleton, 66, was pronounced dead at the scene.

The shooter, whom authorities have not publicly identified, died following ā€œa lethal force encounterā€ with deputies after the shooting, the sheriffā€™s department said in a statement.

Community members have since rallied around Carletonā€™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.

ā€œShe was a fierce protector of everybody being who they wanted to be,ā€ Clevenger told The Washington Post.

Carleton, who went by Lauri, began working in fashion as a teenager at her familyā€™s business, Fred Segal in Los Angeles, according to Mag.piā€™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 storeā€™s website says.

Carleton was one of the largest donors to Lake Arrowhead LGBTQ+ and attended the organizationā€™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.piā€™s Pride flag multiple times.

After making ā€œdisparaging remarksā€ about the Pride flag on Friday, a man shot Carleton before fleeing, according to the sheriffā€™s department. He was holding a handgun when deputies found him on a nearby road, where he later died, officials said.

  • DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe
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    1 year ago

    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.

    • ClumZy@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      Tbh in most of the civilized world ā€˜liberalā€™ 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 CIAā€™s best psyop)

    • elscallr@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Well no. Conservative, to me, means a federal government thatā€™s pretty much powerless to change anything in the States (10th amendment), that doesnā€™t invade the privacy of Americans (4th amendment), and that doesnā€™t go around waging war without declaration.

      Thatā€™s not what we have. Thatā€™s not what either conservatives or liberals want, so we need a new label.

        • elscallr@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Itā€™s classical liberalism, but the meaning of the word ā€œliberalā€ has changed.

          • DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe
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            1 year ago

            Iā€™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 ā€œconservativesā€ who sure do use a lot of dogwhistles they hope decent people are too clueless by design to hear until itā€™s too late.

            When someone tells you they hate socialists and theyā€™re definitely not a liberal, connect the dots.