The 27-year-old man who police say shot and killed a California business owner over a Pride flag draped in her store appears to have had a yearslong history of posting disturbing — and often violent — anti-LGBTQ messages on social media.
The suspect, Travis Ikeguchi, gunned down Laura Ann Carleton, 66, on Friday, after confronting her and “yelling many homophobic slurs” over her clothing store’s Pride flag, San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus said at a news conference Monday. Shortly after fleeing the store, Mag.Pi, Ikeguchi was killed in a shootout with law enforcement.
Officials said Ikeguchi had a history of sharing posts that were critical of the LGBTQ community on social media, including on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
While officials said they have not received confirmation on social media pages belonging to Ikeguchi, an X account that includes Ikeguchi’s full name was created in 2015. Throughout the account’s existence, posts were shared repeatedly using the suspect’s full name and at least one post included a California location, which corresponds with the suspect’s known state of residence.
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