*A Southern California business owner was shot and killed Friday by a man who objected to an LGBTQ+ Pride flag displayed at her clothing store, officials said.

San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies responded to the Mag.Pi clothing store in Cedar Glen, Calif., at around 5 p.m. local time for reports of a shooting.

Deputies discovered the victim, 66-year-old Laura Ann Carleton, suffering from a gunshot wound. Carleton was pronounced dead at the scene, the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department said in a news release.

The suspect, who was not identified by officials, fled the scene on foot.

According to deputies, the man made “several disparaging remarks about a rainbow flag” that stood outside Carleton’s store before ultimately shooting her.*

    • FirstCircle@lemmy.mlOP
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      11 months ago

      Indeed, very much so.

      But wait, I’ve heard “there are good people on both sides” [some infamous criminal].

    • Clent@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      This is the output of authoritarian rhetoric.

      Their first step was making sure their volunteer soldiers could self arm.

      Plausible deniability up the whole chain.

      This is going to get so much worse.

      The culture war is a hot war.

  • iforgotmyinstance@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    Right wing terrorism in action.

    It’s shitty that the guilty party chose death by cop rather than face trial. It would be good to get these fuckers on court TV with all their dirty laundry to boot.

  • Wirrvogel@feddit.de
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    11 months ago

    I find it important to make clear it was a hate crime, but Lauri Carleton was NOT killed “over a rainbow flag outside her clothing store”.

    No one gets killed because of a rainbow flag. You get killed because an asshole who wants to rather die than adapt to the world changing wants to spread fear with his last action and needs desperately to find a “reason”. Let’s not pretend he had a reason any other than being a coward.

    My heart goes out to her family, friends and the community impacted.

  • eestileib@sh.itjust.works
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    11 months ago

    Massive respect and sorrow for the loss of an actual ally.

    And fuck that guy and the religion, media, and politicians that made him.

    Sic semper bigotis.

    • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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      11 months ago

      I am religious and I believe in life after death. I also believe this dude will suffer for quite some time for this show of intolerance. Every major religion I’m familiar with views murder as unforgivable, and that’s precisely what this was, murder of an innocent.

      I sincerely hope this person gets what they deserve in the next life.

      I have nothing but love for the LGBTQ+ community. I hope the pride flags out there give you some sense of reassurance that the majority is on your side. Screw that guy, and screw anyone that thinks violence is an option to dealing with these types of disagreements. i sincerely hope this convinces others to rethink their own intolerant views.

      • quinnly@lemmy.ml
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        11 months ago

        Every major religion I’m familiar with views murder as unforgivable

        Many many religions also view homosexuality as a sin, so depending on what you believe you may be walking a very fine line of hypocrisy here

        • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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          11 months ago

          I don’t see any reason for hypocrisy. Most religions don’t condone violence against sinners, instead leaving that to God to handle. They instead encourage peaceful proselytizing to convince sinners to repent.

          So whether homosexuality is a sin is irrelevant, violence isn’t acceptable. You may believe a gay couple deserves an eternity in hell, but that doesn’t justify murder.

          People have absolutely used religion as an excuse, but they need to do a lot of mental gymnastics to justify it with the tenets of the religion. And if you’re willing to do that, you don’t need religion at that point, it’s just good old fashioned intolerance. If it’s not religion, maybe it’s a philosophy or political ideology.

          • quinnly@lemmy.ml
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            11 months ago

            Are you Christian? If so you may want to review Leviticus, which literally calls for violence and death against homosexuals. If you are a Christian but you’re being picky and choosy with scripture, then you are a hypocrite.

            Leviticus 20:13 If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.

              • quinnly@lemmy.ml
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                11 months ago

                The Hadith has multiple passages that condemn homosexuality and call for violence against it:

                Sunan Abi Dawud 4462-4463 If you find anyone doing as Lot’s people did, kill the one who does it, and the one to whom it is done. If a man who is not married is seized committing sodomy, he will be stoned to death

                Historically Islam has actually been more accepting of LGBT people than Christianity, but in recent history many Islamic countries have sadly flipped the script.

  • Sooperstition@lemmy.one
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    11 months ago

    May Laura Ann Carleton rest in peace. She risked her life to support the LGBT community. Her death should not be in vain. Every motherfucker going on about grooming or drag queens or pro-LGBT indoctrination has blood on their hands. Whoever killed her needs to understand the consequences of what they did.

    • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
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      11 months ago

      I don’t think she really risked her life for it. Nobody puts up a rainbow flag expecting to become a martyr.

      What happened is that a crazy person used a flag as an excuse to focus their anger onto someone who had nothing to do with whatever the source of that anger was. It could have been a Joe Biden campaign sign or a marijuana poster that set them off. It just so happens that this time it was a rainbow flag.

      I guess my point is that putting up a flag isn’t “risking your life,” it’s just a flag. I see absolutely no reason for Ms. Carleton to have even considered that putting up that flag was a risk. She was an innocent victim of a crazy-person, and that’s more terrifying to me than thinking that putting up a flag was risky behavior.

  • mika@lemmy.ml
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    11 months ago

    We used to have a progress flag on our car but took it off months ago due to fears of something like this happening. How senseless and tagic… may she rest in peace.

  • dub@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    That’ll teach her for supporting a minority group.

    Edit: might have to put an /s at this point….

  • CADmonkey@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    Every time I see another story like this, I get tempted to buy a stack of rainbow bumper stickers to sneakily put them on certain vehicles.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    11 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    A Southern California business owner was shot and killed Friday by a man who objected to an LGBTQ+ Pride flag displayed at her clothing store, officials said.

    San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies responded to the Mag.Pi clothing store in Cedar Glen, Calif., at around 5 p.m. local time for reports of a shooting.

    According to deputies, the man made “several disparaging remarks about a rainbow flag” that stood outside Carleton’s store before ultimately shooting her.

    Carleton studied at the Art Center School of Design and had a long career in the fashion industry, including a 15-year run as an executive at Kenneth Cole, the site said.

    The Lake Arrowhead LGBTQ organization took to social media to address the shooting, saying that while Carleton did not identify as a member, she spent her time helping and being an advocate for those in the LGBTQ+ community.

    Mountain Provisions Cooperative, a local food co-op, said on Instagram that Carleton and her husband had been pivotal in helping organize a free store after a blizzard hit the area earlier this year.


    The original article contains 352 words, the summary contains 177 words. Saved 50%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • notannpc@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    That’s a fucking hate crime. It’s too bad he had to kill an innocent person before he did the world a favor and died.