Paul Feig and Bridget Everett pay tribute to friend murdered over Pride flag

Director Paul Feig (Bridesmaids, A Simple Favor) and comedian Bridget Everett (Somebody Somewhere) have posted tributes on their social media pages to Laura Ann Carleton, a friend of theirs who was murdered this weekend at a store she owned in California’s Lake Arrowhead community. According to police, Carleton had gotten into an argument with an unnamed 27-year-old man after he made “several disparaging remarks” about a Pride flag she had hanging outside the store, at which point the man shot her and fled the scene. She later died from the gunshot wound. The police tracked down the suspect, who was armed with a handgun, and after attempting to communicate with him, a “lethal force encounter occurred and the suspect was pronounced deceased.”

In her post, Everett noted that Carleton and her shop had been harassed over the Pride flag before, with people taking down the flag or vandalizing it, and she’d always “put up another one.” Everett also said that the last time she saw Carleton was at Lake Arrowhead’s Pride parade, adding that “all that anti-LGBTQ rhetoric has a price” and “now, Lauri’s husband Bort, her daughter, friends, and community are devastated. And for what?”

In a post on his Instagram, Feig referred to Carleton as a “true ally,” saying that her killer “no longer poses a threat to the community,” but that “this intolerance has to end.” Feig goes on to say that, “anyone using hateful language against the LGBTQ+ community has to realize their words matter, that their words can inspire violence against innocent loving people.” He ended his post by saying, “let’s not let Lauri’s tragic death be in vain.”

The police report (via The Hollywood Reporter) said that an investigation is still “ongoing” but that “no further details are being released.”