i thought about my friend dr. freedom mill house jones, and how her medical practice in our home city of atlanta was devastated by gun violence. how are patients sitting in the waiting room lost her life that day. amy , i thought about the fact that her two young children experience their first mothers day, without their mom, the beginning of a new school year, without their mom. and i knew that i had to keep climbing. i thought about aj owens, the being slaughtered in front of her children in , murdered doing what mothers do, defending them. and i knew that we must keep climbing. i thought about neil standing at the gates of disney world, greeting families prepared for a day of lifelong happy memories, with hate. what did the mothers tell their children that day? i thought about lori carleton, a mother of nine, 25 years after the brutal slaying of matthew shepard, shot and killed for hanging a flag, a pride flag, outside of her own
antipolice posts. josh campbell, appreciate it. thank you. joining me now is lori carleton s daughter, ari carleton. ari, i m so sorry we re talking under these circumstances. thank you so much for being with us. i m so sorry for your loss. how are you holding up? well, me and my family are just trying to, you know, take it hour by hour, trying to find some sense of normalcy. and finding that that s the hardest part, just coming to terms with the new normal without our mate yar ki. your mom sounds like such an incredible lady. her interest in fashion goes way back. i was reading she worked at fred sea gull when she was just starting out. what do you want people to know about her? well, that s a loaded question. my mom and i were very close because she had such a long
peering into store windows and ducking between cars. but had no idea things had turned violent until a customer came running panicked. basically screaming, lori has been shot. closer to. he might still be out there. i said oh my gosh, is she okay? said no, i think they are saying she s been killed. hearing those words, something very shocking. authorities say the suspect led on foot, leaving carleton to die at the scene. deputies found that more than a mile north of the shop. they say the suspect was armed with a handgun. authorities writing, when deputies attempted to contact the suspect, a lethal force encounter occurred and the suspect was pronounced deceased. california governor gavin newsom calling it absolutely horrific. adding to the disgusting hate has no place in california. the shop, still marked by bullet holes, now surrounded by a rainbow colored memorial. carleton an outspoken ally of the lgbtq community.
daughter, the daughter of lori ann carlton. first, cnn s josh campbell has more on what happened. reporter: it is an international symbol of equality. the mere act of proudly displaying it leading to lori carleton s death. over a flag? come on. i mean, we ve lost a lot of people in our country over our flags, and some people don t like them. reporter: 66-year-old carleton was shot inside her clothing boutique friday following a confrontation over the pride flag displayed outside the shop s entrance. this is devastating. no one should die for standing in solidarity with love. reporter: reaction to carleton s death poured in on social media, including paul fi. we re all devastated for her husband and her family and the lgbtq+ community, for whom lori
especially twitter, or acts as it is called now and facebook. leading the pack on this. sarah kate, i do not need to tell you the moment we find ourselves in. it is not just rhetoric, it is state legislation targeting lgbtq americans all across the country. one of the things that struck me about lori carleton s story is that this was not the first time that she had caught flak for having the flag outside of her store. it got taken down multiple times. and each time she put up an even bigger flag. so for people watching, who feel disheartened by what they hear from our leaders. from what they see in action from our leaders, by the fact that this is a story that has transpired in the year 2023. what is your advice to americans who want to combat this kind of hate? who want to be on the right side of history? i want to say two things to what you just said. number one, that there have