Store Owner Is Fatally Shot by Man Who Confronted Her About Pride Flag
nytimes.comEvery time someone ripped down the rainbow Pride flag from the Mag.Pi clothing store in the San Bernardino mountains in California, the store’s owner, Laura Ann Carleton, responded by putting up a bigger one.
Ms. Carleton, 66, did not waver in her support of L.G.B.T.Q. people. Around 5 p.m. on Friday, she was shot by a man who made disparaging remarks about the shop’s Pride flag, the 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 that “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 on Sunday.
