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Film and television writer Katherine Fugate has paid tribute to a California woman who was shot dead over a Pride flag she flew in front of her business.
Laura Ann Carleton, 66, was pronounced dead at Mag.Pi, the store she owned and operated in Cedar Glen, on Friday, authorities said.
The suspect fled the store but was later found and killed in a confrontation with officers from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.
The man “made several disparaging remarks about a rainbow flag that stood outside the store,” sheriff’s officials said in a news release. His identity has not been released as of early Monday.
Arun Nevader/Getty Images
Fugate, the creator and executive producer of Army Wives, said Carleton, who went by Lauri, was her neighbor.
“She owned two shops called Mag Pi. She put up pride flags to show her support for love in all its forms,” Fugate said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “She was not gay. She was an ally. A wife, a mother, a friend. Still, hate walked in with a gun and killed her.”
Newsweek has contacted Fugate for further comment via social media.
Lauri is my neighbor. She owned two shops called Mag Pi. She put up pride flags to show her support for love in all its forms. She was not gay. She was an ally. A wife, a mother, a friend. Still, hate walked in with a gun and killed her. https://t.co/3BK6Vu7R3u via @TMZ
— Katherine Fugate (@katherinefugate) August 20, 2023
An LGBTQ group in Lake Arrowhead said Carleton didn’t identify as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, but spent time helping and advocating for everyone and was defending the Pride flags in front of her store on the night of the shooting.
“She will be truly missed,” the group wrote on Facebook.
Others also took to social media with tributes to Carleton, who is survived by her husband and nine children in a blended family.
Director Paul Feig described Carleton as a “wonderful friend.”
“We are all devastated for her husband Bort and her family and the LGBTQ+ community, for whom Lauri was such a true ally,” Feig wrote in a post on Instagram.
Carleton’s suspected killer “no longer poses a threat to the community,” Feig said, but “this intolerance has to end.”
He added: “Anyone using hateful language against the LGBTQ+ community has to realize their words matter, that their words can inspire violence against innocent loving people. Let’s all keep moving forward with tolerance and love. Let’s not let Lauri’s tragic death be in vain.”
Comedian Bridget Everett said every time the pride flag outside Carleton’s store was taken down or vandalized, she would put up another one.
She said she last saw Carleton at Lake Arrowhead’s Pride parade.
“All that anti-LGBTQ rhetoric has a price,” Everett wrote on Instagram. “And now, Lauri’s husband Bort, her daughters, friends and community are devastated. And for what?”
Newsweek has contacted the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department for comment via email.
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