A California store owner was shot dead after a man made 'disparaging remarks' about a Pride flag outside her store, sheriff's office said

• A woman was shot and killed outside her store on Friday, the San Bernardino county sheriff said.
• Police said the suspect made "disparaging remarks" about the Pride flag hanging outside the store.

A California clothing store owner was shot and killed after a man made "disparaging remarks" about a Pride flag hanging outside her store, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said in a statement.

Mag Pi clothing store owner Laura Carleton, 66, was pronounced dead at the scene after being shot, officials said.

The Twin Peaks Sheriff's Station responded to reports of someone shot at the store in Cedar Glen, California, on Friday at 5 p.m. local time, the statement said.

The unidentified suspect then ran away from the scene with a handgun, officials said. He died after a "lethal force encounter" with deputies, the sheriff's office said.

The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said that upon further investigation, they learned that the suspect "made several disparaging remarks about a rainbow flag that stood outside the store before shooting Carleton."

The incident is now being investigated as a hate crime, the "Today" show reported. San Bernardino officials didn't immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment and confirmation.

Carleton has been hanging a Pride flag in front of her store since 2021, the Washington Post reported, citing friends. They added that whenever someone would take the flag down in protest, she'd hang another in its place.

She didn't identify as a member of the LGBTQ+ community herself, "but spent her time helping & advocating for everyone in the community," the advocacy group Lake Arrowhead LGBTQ+ wrote on Instagram.

The group has been re-posting Instagram stories of people flying Pride flags in Carleton's honor.

Mountain Provisions Cooperative wrote on Facebook that Carleton was "a pillar in our community, an immovable force in her values for equality, love, and justice" and added that she "nurtured and protected those she cared about."

The co-op wrote that Carleton helped them to open a Free Store that provided free food and supplies for four months for people in the community following a massive blizzard in the San Bernardino Mountains in February.

"She was a force, she loved to crack jokes and wanted to live as joyful of a life as possible," Mountain Provisions Cooperative wrote. "We will continue to stand for the values she so selflessly stood for. Her death will not be in vain."