Pride flag killer was a fan of Matt Walsh & other extremist social media accounts

Travis Ikeguchi—the man who police say gunned down Laura Ann Carleton because she flew a Pride flag last week—appears to have maintained social media accounts on which he posted and shared often violent anti-LGBTQ+ and right-wing extremist content, including content made by anti-transgender activist Matt Walsh.

During a Monday press conference, San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department public information officer Mara Rodriguez noted that Ikeguchi, who was shot and killed in a confrontation with police, used multiple social media platforms, including X (formerly Twitter) and the far-right dominated Gab, where he posted anti-LGBTQ+ content. Sheriff Shannon Dicus confirmed that investigators are looking at an X account that appears to have been maintained by Ikeguchi.

Related:

Suspect wrote anti-LGBTQ+ posts online before he killed a woman for flying the Pride flag

The suspect, who was killed by police, posted multiple images of burning Pride flags on social media.

According to NBC News, officials have not confirmed that the accounts belonged to Ikeguchi, but the X account bearing Ikeguchi’s full name and a photo used in media reports was created in 2015 and includes at least one post referencing a California location. Ikeguchi was reportedly a resident of Cedar Glen, California.

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Posts to the account reveal the extent to which Ikeguchi may have been radicalized by right-wing extremism on social media. The account’s pinned post shows a photo of a burning Pride flag with the caption, “What to do with the LGBTQP flag?” The “LGBTQP” acronym appears in multiple posts, and has been used by anti-LGBTQ+ social media users to falsely imply that the queer community embraces pedophilia and to falsely associate the community with child sex abuse.

His bio on the platform was, “There is only one way to the path of salvation and to have eternal life and that is through Jesus Christ. And yes, the path is narrow.”

As trans rights activist and civil rights attorney Alejandra Caraballo noted on X, the account believed to belong to Ikeguchi retweeted and commented on posts by anti-LGBTQ+ activist and Daily Wire writer Matt Walsh.

The bigot who murdered the woman with a pride flag on her business, is a Matt Walsh fan.

This follows Matt Walsh going on a rant on his podcast saying that the "Pride flag deserves our disrespect."

Matt Walsh is directly inspiring murder and terrorism. pic.twitter.com/6jZCjat5zL

— Alejandra Caraballo (@Esqueer_) August 22, 2023

The user, believed to be Ikeguchi, also reposted and liked tweets from other anti-LGBTQ+ and right-wing pundits and outlets like One America News Network (OANN) and Dinesh D’Souza. They frequently posted about their anti-LGBTQ+ Christian beliefs, their support for former President Donald Trump, and their opposition to abortion rights and gun control, among other right-wing views.

He was antisemitic, because antisemitism is always at the core of this bullshit. He also retweeted @TheBabylonBee, @jordanbpeterson, and @RobertKennedyJr pic.twitter.com/tdaeBKrKNz

— hannah✨ (@dogfanhan) August 22, 2023

And of course, he loved his guns. This dude is like a bingo of the most toxic parts of the right wing internet. Everyone who I named in this thread has blood on their hands, period. pic.twitter.com/7PmKugkAtq

— hannah✨ (@dogfanhan) August 22, 2023

As Meidas Touch reported, in February 2021, the account responded to another user’s post claiming that the only reason Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was appointed to the position was because he is gay, writing “abnormal.”

A June 2018 post criticized an LGBTQ+ inclusive Mastercard ad, calling LGBTQ+ inclusion “a cancer.”

“LGBT people need to stop asking the world for acceptance, instead they should start accepting Jesus Christ in their hearts and turn away from their false sexual identity that the devil deceived them to be!” the post reads.

Another post suggested violence against the LGBTQ+ community. According to NBC News, in June of this year, the account retweeted an image of the “TIQA+” being cut away from the LGBTIQA+ acronym, implying the exclusion of transgender, intersex, and other minorities from the LGBTQ+ rights movement. The account criticized the image, writing, “This tactic is not going to solve anything. Where you are cutting off the legs of the octopus and can grow back another one. KILL THE OCTOPUS!! Not just its legs!!!”

According to NBC News, the Gab profile believed to belong to Ikeguchi is no longer public, while the X account remains online. Since taking over the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, CEO Elon Musk has essentially dismantled its policies against hate speech and misinformation. In March, a study found that the site saw a dramatic increase in anti-LGBTQ+ tweets since Musk took over – and that the company is making millions from those tweets. The following month, the site quietly removed a line in its “Hateful Conduct” policy that protected transgender people from online abuse. And in June, Musk let it be known that he regards the terms “cis” and “cisgender” as slurs.