Daughter of Woman Murdered Over Pride Flag Gives Emotional Interview to Anderson Cooper: ‘I Admire Her and I’m So Proud of Her’

As more details come to light about the murder of Laura Ann “Lauri” Carleton, who was gunned down on Friday after a confrontation over a Pride flag hanging up at her shop, the people who knew her the best are coming forward. CNN’s Anderson Cooper had an emotional interview with Ari Carleton, one of Lauri Carleton’s twin daughters, to talk about her mother’s life.

Ari Carleton described her mother’s fearlessness, including previous confrontations in which her Pride flags were torn down.

“[S]he always went and ordered an even larger flag in response and put it out,” she said. “So, you know, I admire her and I’m so proud of her. And I know that she passed standing up for something that she believed in.”

When Cooper asked her if her mother ever feared for her safety, Ari responded: “No. Yeah. No, she was fearless and she was confident. And she wasn’t afraid to stand up to anybody.”

That exchange led to perhaps the saddest part of the interview, when Ari described how her mother had ordered a new Pride flag not long before her death:

Cooper: I read that your mom had actually ordered a new Pride flag because the old one was fading.

Carleton: Yeah. When we arrived home on Friday night after the incident occurred, there was a package on the doorstep and it was a new flag. And she had told my dad that she had ordered it because the one that had been hanging had naturally faded from the sun.

Cooper: I’m sorry, the new flag had arrived, was waiting on your doorstep when you got home after your mom had been killed?

Carleton: Yes.

Cooper: I can’t imagine what that was like even seeing that.

Carleton: Yeah, it was hard and emotional, but I mean, even the store now, and she has another store down in L.A., so many supporters and people that were a part of our community have gone and put up their own flags and rainbow flowers and so many things to honor her.

The gunman, who fled after the crime, was killed following a shootout with police. Police say he was heard yelling homophobic slurs at Carleton before she confronted him.

Watch the video above via CNN.