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

The gunman suspected of fatally shooting 66-year-old LGBTQ+ ally and mother of nine Laura Ann Carleton during a dispute over a Pride flag has been identified as Travis Ikeguchi. The 27-year-old Cedar Glen, California, resident reportedly had a history of posting anti-LGBTQ+ content on social media.

During a Monday press conference, San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus named Ikeguchi as the suspect who tore down a Pride flag hanging outside Carleton’s store, Mag.Pi, on Friday, August 18, while yelling anti-LGBTQ+ slurs at Carleton. According to Dicus, Carleton confronted Ikeguchi, and he shot and killed her.

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Loving mother murdered by man who hated her Pride flag

“If people don’t think anti-gay & trans rhetoric isn’t dangerous, think again.”

Ikeguchi fled on foot. Dicus said that when Twin Peaks deputies tried to apprehend him, Ikeguchi shot at them, striking multiple patrol vehicles. “Deputies returned fire and struck the suspect, and despite lifesaving measures, Ikeguchi succumbed to his injuries at the scene,” Dicus said.

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“Although Ikeguchi has succumbed to his injuries, this is still an active and ongoing investigation and detectives continue to investigate Ikeguchi’s motivation and the circumstances around this event,” Dicus continued.

The shooter has been identified as Travis, Ikeguchi, 27, who has posted anti-LGBTQ and anti-police content on social media. pic.twitter.com/ZAvCVDf2R1

— Beau Yarbrough ⌚🐕 (@LBY3) August 21, 2023

San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department public information officer Mara Rodriguez noted that Ikeguchi used multiple social media platforms, including X (formerly Twitter) and the far-right dominated Gab, where he posted anti-LGBTQ+ content. Dicus confirmed that an X account identified by social media users as Ikeguchi’s was maintained by the suspect.

The account, @TravisIkeguchi, included a pinned tweet featuring a burning Pride flag. “What to do with the LGBTQP flag?” the post read.

BREAKING: Travis Ikeguchi has been named as the man who shot and killed Lauri Carleton outside her store in Cedar Glen, Calif. Ikeguchi tore down a pride flag outside of Carleton's store before killing her. An X account matching that name shows this as his most recent post. It… pic.twitter.com/TugZVoy8uT

— David Begnaud (@DavidBegnaud) August 21, 2023

Ikeguchi used the acronym “LGBTQP” in multiple posts. The acronym 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 abuse.

According to KABC, Ikeguchi wrote in one of his Gab posts that, “We need to stop compromising on this LGBT dictatorship and not let them take over our lives.”

Carleton’s death has drawn national attention. Celebrities like director Paul Feig, designer Kenneth Cole, and actors Bridget Everett, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kristin Davis, and Cynthia Nixon joining the local community in mourning her.

“I admire her and I’m so proud of her,” Carleton’s daughter, Ari, told KABC. “I know that she passed standing up for something that she believed in.”

“She was so fearless and any negative reaction, she just powered through,” Ari Carleton continued. “The flags have been torn down before by different individuals and she always went and order an even larger flag in response.”

In fact, Ari told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that her mother had ordered a new Pride flag, which the family found on their doorstep Friday evening after Carleton’s senseless murder.

“It was a new flag, and she had told my dad that she had ordered it because the one had been hanging had naturally faded from the sun,” Ari said.

On Twitter, one user referred to Carleton’s murder as an instance of “stochastic terrorism,” the use of mass communication to incite lone wolves to carry out unpredictable violent acts.

Right-wingers have increasingly claimed that LGBTQ+ people and allies want to “sexualize” children for rape and “genital mutilation.” For example, in June, Fox News wrote that the LGBTQ+ Pride flag shows support for pedophilia. Such claims have led to death threats against educators, librarians, politicians, gender-affirming healthcare providers, journalists, and others.

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