Lightsabers raised in tribute to Carrie Fisher

Star Wars fans raise their lightsabers in tribute to actress Carrie Fisher at the California Center for the Arts in Escondido on Friday. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune)

By Hayne Palmour IV

San Diego Union-Tribune

Dec. 30, 2016 10:09 PM PT

Around fifty Star Wars fans gathered at the California Center for the Arts in Escondido on Friday, December 30, 2016, to pay tribute to actress Carrie Fisher by raising their lightsabers. Fisher, who played Princess Leia in the Star Wars movies, died on Tuesday.

William Piitts, from Poway, and daughter Triniti, 10, hold their lightsabers. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune)

Around fifty Star Wars fans hold their lightsabers before raising them up in tribute to actress Carrie Fisher. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune)

William Piitts, from Poway, and daughter Triniti, 10, play with their lightsabers. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune)

Dean LaCrone holds his lightsaber. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune)

Angela Brittain, from Oceanside, holds her lightsaber as her husband Josh Brittain and daughter Ellie, 6, play with theirs. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune)

Shawn Richter holds two lightsabers as he and other Star Wars fans gather to pay tribute to actress Carrie Fisher. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune)

Shawn Richter holds two lightsabers. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune)

Genevieve Edge, left, Captain of the Escondido Lightsaber Team, calls on Star Wars fans to raise their lightsabers in tribute to actress Carrie Fisher. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune)

Genevieve Edge, left, Captain of the Escondido Lightsaber Team, holds up her lightsaber as she calls on Star Wars fans to raise theirs. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune)

Persayia Mendoza, 8, holds her dog Jingle just before she and around fifty Star Wars fans raise their lightsabers in tribute to actress Carrie Fisher. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune)

Star Wars fans hold their lightsabers in tribute to actress Carrie Fisher. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune)

Triniti Piitts, 10, second from right, sister Sienna Pitts, 8, center, and other Star Wars fans hold their lightsabers in tribute to actress Carrie Fisher. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune)

Hayne Palmour IV

Hayne Palmour IV has been working as a newspaper photographer in San Diego County since 1986. During that time he has covered most of the major news and sports events in San Diego County. In between 2003 and 2005 he went on three separate trips to cover the war in Iraq as an embedded journalist with Camp Pendleton Marines. In 2003 the North County Times published a book of Palmour’s photographs, along with text by reporter Darrin Mortenson, on the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq titled “A Thousand Miles to Baghdad.” Hayne has an associates degree in photography from Chowan College, in North Carolina and a BA in psychology from the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. He joined the U-T in 2012. Hayne lives in Encinitas.