Crime
Laura Carleton “was a fierce protector of all people being who they needed to be.”
When a clothes retailer opened in Cedar Glen, Calif., in the summertime of 2021, the proprietor hung a Satisfaction flag on the entrance, her buddies recalled. Every time somebody would tear down the flag, proprietor Laura Carleton would increase one other one.
However after somebody complained concerning the flag on Friday, the encounter turned lethal.
A person arrived on the retailer, Magazine.pi, round 5 p.m. and criticized Carleton’s Satisfaction flag earlier than he shot her, in accordance with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Division. Carleton, 66, was pronounced useless on the scene.
The shooter, whom authorities haven’t publicly recognized, died following “a deadly power encounter” with deputies after the taking pictures, the sheriff’s division mentioned in an announcement.
Neighborhood members have since rallied round Carleton’s retailer, inserting Satisfaction flags, flowers, candles and images of Carleton in entrance of it. Matthew Clevenger of Lake Arrowhead LGBTQ+ mentioned Carleton was a powerful ally of the LGBTQ+ neighborhood.
“She was a fierce protector of all people being who they needed to be,” Clevenger instructed The Washington Publish.
Carleton, who glided by Lauri, started working in trend as an adolescent at her household’s enterprise, Fred Segal in Los Angeles, in accordance with Magazine.pi’s web site. After graduating from the ArtCenter Faculty of Design in Pasadena, Calif., Carleton labored at a retail retailer earlier than becoming a member of Kenneth Cole within the Eighties. Carleton labored for the style firm for greater than 15 years as an govt.
In 2013, Carleton based her clothes retailer, Magazine.pi, on Ventura Boulevard in Studio Metropolis, Calif. She added a second retailer in Cedar Glen in 2021. Whereas she constructed her profession, Carleton married her husband and took satisfaction of their blended household of 9 kids, her retailer’s web site says.
Carleton was one of many largest donors to Lake Arrowhead LGBTQ+ and attended the group’s Satisfaction boat parade in June, Clevenger mentioned. A piece of Magazine.pi was devoted to rainbow-colored merchandise, and she or he displayed rainbow candles by the money register, he mentioned.
Carleton helped create a tradition wherein the LGBTQ+ neighborhood felt accepted, Clevenger mentioned. However some neighborhood members have been nonetheless resistant, he added, and took down Magazine.pi’s Satisfaction flag a number of occasions.
After making “disparaging remarks” concerning the Satisfaction flag on Friday, a person shot Carleton earlier than fleeing, in accordance with the sheriff’s division. He was holding a handgun when deputies discovered him on a close-by highway, the place he later died, officers mentioned.
Regulation enforcement departments in a number of states, together with Maryland, California and New York, have investigated latest cases of Satisfaction flag vandalism as hate crimes. The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Division mentioned it’s nonetheless investigating the incident.
Dozens of individuals visited Magazine.pi this previous weekend, and guests wrote “WE LOVE YOU LAURI” in chalk in entrance of the doorway.
Carleton’s buddy Paul Feig, recognized for creating the TV present “Freaks and Geeks” and directing the movie “Bridesmaids, wrote on Instagram that he was “devastated” for Carleton’s household.
“Anybody utilizing hateful language in opposition to the LGBTQ+ neighborhood has to understand their phrases matter, that their phrases can encourage violence in opposition to harmless loving folks,” Feig wrote. “Let’s all hold shifting ahead with tolerance and love. Let’s not let Lauri’s tragic demise be in useless.”
Carleton hoped to proceed to make the Cedar Glen space extra inclusive — a purpose Clevenger nonetheless hopes to perform. He mentioned he admired how she all the time caught up for the LGBTQ+ neighborhood, even when others challenged her beliefs.
“In case you have been coming after her or the folks she liked,” Clevenger mentioned, “she was the lioness.”
