Homophobic history found in suspect who fatally shot California shop owner over pride flag

A California shop owner who was killed over a Pride flag outside her store was the target of a gunman who had a history of posting anti-LGBTQ comments on social media and far-right sites.

The suspect was identified by authorities on Monday as Travis Ikeguchi, 27, who died in a shootout with deputies after he shot Laura “Lauri” Carleton outside her clothing store Mag.Pi in Cedar Glen.

Ikeguchi ripped off a rainbow Pride flag that Carleton, 66, had hung outside her business on Friday. When Carleton confronted him, he yelled “many homophobic slurs” and then shot her, according to San Bernardino County Sheriff officials who held a press conference on Monday.

Carleton, who was a well-known figure in the community and a mother of nine, passed away at the scene while Ikeguchi ran away.

Deputies chased him for about a mile from the store and he fired at them, hitting several patrol cars, San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus said to reporters.

The officers fired back and killed Ikeguchi. No deputies were hurt.

Ikeguchi was reported missing by his family a day before the hate-driven shooting — often posted anti-LGBTQ and anti-abortion messages on Twitter (X) and the far-right platform Gab.

In one disturbing, ominous post in June, he wrote “What to do with the [Pride] flag?” above a photo of a burning rainbow flag on X. He pinned the post to his profile, which Dicus confirmed to be his.

He also shared an illustration of a Pride flag on fire on his now-deleted Gab page under the pretext of Christianity and made anti-government and anti-police statements.

“We need to STOP COMPROMISING on this LGBT dictatorship…True followers of Christ SHOULD NOT and NEVER TOLERATE this stupid indoctrination of LGBT agenda in marriage or in our own businesses,” he captioned the illustration. “…Who has the courage to post this and feel no shame of it!?”

The 27-year-old frequently shared and retweeted bible verses between writing his disgusting posts. Discus said Ikeguchi was not known to law enforcement before Friday’s shooting.

The alleged killer used a semiautomatic handgun that was not registered to him and he was not licensed to carry a concealed weapon, the sheriff said.

The investigation into the shooting which had several witnesses who called 911 is ongoing.

Carleton, who was known as Lauri by her friends, is survived by her husband and nine children in what she had described as a “blended” family.

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She did not identify as a member of the LGBTQ community but was a staunch supporter, according to the Lake Arrowhead LGBTQ organization. Carleton received an outpouring of tributes from names big and small, far and wide.

Friends, family, and admirers turned the outside of her shop into a makeshift memorial with bunches of flowers and Pride flags as a single bullet hole could be seen through its glass door.

“Thank you for standing up for what’s right,” one person wrote in a note left among roses and sunflowers.

“Bridesmaids” director Paul Feig called Carleton a friend.

“She was a wonderful person who did so much for the LGBTQ+ community as well as the community at large,” the Gostbuster director wrote on X.

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“What happened to her is an absolute tragedy. If people don’t think anti-gay & trans rhetoric isn’t dangerous, think again.”

The killing follows a rise in anti-LGBTQ attacks and hateful rhetoric across the country and locally.

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Advocacy group Equality California said over the past year, it has documented “a sharp increase in anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric being expressed by far-right extremists and hate groups — rhetoric which has resulted in physical intimidation, harassment, and acts of violence.”

In late July, a teenager fatally stabbed O’Shae Sibley, a 28-year-old gay man known in the NYC dancing community, for voguing to a Beyonce song outside a Brooklyn gas station in a case that prosecutors have determined to be an anti-gay hate crime.

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