California shop owner killed over Pride flag was adamant she would never take it down
Laura Ann Carleton was fatally shot Friday outside Mag.Pi, the clothing and home decor shop she owned in Cedar Glen, a mountain community east of Los Angeles. | Richard Vogel/AP Photo By Associated Press 08/23/2023 06:25 PM EDT Link CopiedLOS ANGELES — The California woman killed for apparently refusing to remove an LGBTQ+ rainbow Pride flag from outside her store was adamant that she would never take it down, a longtime friend said Wednesday.Laura Ann Carleton was fatally shot Friday outside Mag.Pi, the clothing and home decor shop she owned in Cedar Glen, a mountain community east of Los Angeles.The shooter, Travis Ikeguchi, was killed by deputies after he opened fire on them a short time later, San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus said Monday.
Ikeguchi had frequently posted anti-LGBTQ content on social media, sheriff’s officials said.Korey Pollard, whose wife worked at Mag.Pi, said Carleton was defiant in the face of criticism she received for hanging the rainbow flag outside the small store.“She would say, ‘Korey, this is the hill I’m going to die on.
No one is going to make me take down that flag,’ ” Pollard told The Associated Press. At one point, Carleton even ordered a much larger rainbow flag to replace an older one that had become faded, Pollard said.Moments before shooting Carleton, Ikeguchi tore down the Pride flag outside her shop and shouted homophobic slurs at her, the sheriff said.Carleton, who preferred to be called “Lauri,” is survived by her husband and nine children in a blended family.An LGBTQ group in nearby Lake Arrowhead said Carleton didn’t identify as a member of the LGBTQ+ community.
