Who is Travis Ikeguchi? Suspect Named in California Pride Flag Killing

The 27-year-old man killed by sheriff's deputies after he fatally shot a California woman had ripped down a Pride flag outside the store and shouted homophobic slurs, authorities said.

Travis Ikeguchi was identified on Monday as the person responsible for the shooting of Laura "Lauri" Carleton, 66, outside her store, Mag.Pi, in Cedar Glen on Friday.

"Investigators determined prior to the shooting that Ikeguchi tore down a Pride or rainbow flag that was hanging in front of the Mag.Pi store and yelled many homophobic slurs toward Carleton," San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus told reporters on Monday.

The sheriff said when Carleton confronted Ikeguchi, he shot her. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

When deputies later confronted Ikeguchi about a mile from the store, he opened fire on them, striking multiple patrol vehicles, Dicus said.

Deputies returned fire and shot Ikeguchi, who died at the scene, Dicus said. No deputies were hurt.

Several witnesses reported that Ikeguchi had shot Carleton and followed him when he fled the store, Dicus said. The firearm used by Ikeguchi was not registered to him, and he did not have a license to carry a concealed weapon, officials said.

The investigation into Carleton's killing was ongoing, Dicus said. According to NBC News, it is being investigated as a possible hate crime.

Newsweek has contacted the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department for further comment via email.

The district attorney's office will investigate the shooting of the suspect, as is standard practice with lethal encounters involving law enforcement.

Mara Rodriguez, the sheriff's department's public information officer, told reporters that Ikeguchi's family had reported him missing on Thursday.

He "was positively identified by his next of kin as the suspect in this case," Rodriguez said.

Ikeguchi, who lived in Cedar Glen, often posted anti-LGBTQ+ content on multiple social media platforms, she said.

"The content of Ikeguchi's social media posts contained posts critical to the LGBTQIA community," she said, adding that he also reposted videos with "anti-law enforcement content."

"What to do with the LGBTQP flag?" Ikeguchi wrote in a June 13 post on X, formerly Twitter, that shows a burning Pride flag.

Tributes have poured in for Carleton, who is survived by her husband and nine children in a blended family.

"She put up pride flags to show her support for love in all its forms," film and television writer Katherine Fugate wrote on X. "She was not gay. She was an ally. A wife, a mother, a friend. Still, hate walked in with a gun and killed her."

An LGBTQ+ group in Lake Arrowhead said Carleton didn't identify as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, but spent time helping and advocating for everyone.

"She will be truly missed," the group wrote on Facebook.

Equality California, an advocacy group, said it has recorded a sharp rise in anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric.

"Over the past year, we have seen 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," the group's executive director Tony Hoang said in a statement.

"More than 350 anti-LGBTQ+ incidents occurred from June 2022 to April 2023, accompanied by the introduction of more than 500 anti-LGBTQ+ pieces of legislation introduced across the country in 2023 alone," he said. "This hate does not happen in a vacuum—it is all part of a backlash to the advances made by the LGBTQ+ community. We must continue to stand against this rising tide of hatred."

Update 8/22/23, 4:16 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information, a new video and a new image.