A dispute over an LGBTQ+ pride flag at a California clothing store spiraled into deadly violence this weekend when a man shot and killed the 66-year-old business owner right in front of her shop, authorities said.
The man ran away from the store after the shooting Friday night but was later found and killed in a confrontation with officers from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.
The agency said Laura Ann Carleton was pronounced dead at Mag.Pi, the store she owned and operated in Cedar Glen. The small community in the San Bernadino Mountains is roughly 60 miles (96 kilometers) east of downtown Los Angeles.
Before the shooting, the man “made several disparaging remarks about a rainbow flag that stood outside the store,” sheriff's officials said.
It was not immediately clear what happened when officers confronted the man, whose identity hadn't been released as of Sunday.
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. But she spent time helping and advocating for everyone, and was defending her Pride flags placed in front of her shop on the night of the shooting, the group said.
There was an outpouring of support on social media over the weekend, with commenters expressing shock and sadness on the store's accounts. Many included rainbow flag emojis.
Law enforcement agencies in several states have investigated the destruction of rainbow Pride flags as potential hate crimes in recent years.
The U.S. Coast Guard on Thursday was searching for four missing fishermen in the waters off of Cape Ann in Massachusetts.
Authorities are searching for a man accused of shooting and wounding a 6-year-old North Carolina girl and her parents.
The Pentagon has confirmed that the U.S. government is tracking hundreds of cases of UFO sightings.
Prosecutors will dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against Alec Baldwin in the fatal 2021 shooting of a cinematographer on the set of the Western film “ Rust," alluding to new revelations in the investigation while cautioning that Baldwin has not been absolved.
U.S. Census data points to a stark divide between millennials who own homes and those who fear they never will. Millennial homeownership reached an all-time high last year, with 51 percent of millennials owning their own homes.
A crowd apparently panicked by gunfire and an electrical explosion stampeded at an event to distribute financial aid during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in Yemen’s capital late Wednesday, killing at least 78 people and injuring at least 73 others, according to witnesses and Houthi rebel officials.
Two teenagers and a 20-year-old man have been arrested and charged with reckless murder in connection with a shooting that killed four young people at a Sweet Sixteen birthday party in rural Alabama, investigators announced Wednesday.
Andrew Lester, the 84-year-old white man who shot Ralph Yarl, a Black teenager in Kansas City, pleaded not guilty in his first court appearance Wednesday.
The family of Tyre Nichols, who died after a brutal beating by five Memphis police officers, sued the officers and the city of Memphis on Wednesday.
Summer blend isn’t the latest coffee concoction from Starbucks. It’s a type of fuel blend that’s going to cost customers 25 to 35 cents more per gallon more at the pump, and many customers are bracing themselves for a summer fuel spike.
