Asian American who killed woman over a Pride flag dies in shootout with police

SCREEN CAPTURE / CBS

An Asian American has been named as the shooter who killed a shop owner who was flying the Pride flag at her store.

The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department on Aug. 21 identified the suspect as Travis Ikeguchi, 27, of Cedar Glen, California.

Moments before Ikeguchi ripped down the rainbow flag and shot business owner Laura Carleton, he was heard making disparaging remarks about the LGBTQ community and Carleton.

Ikeguchi fled on foot after shooting Carleton Friday evening. Several witnesses followed him. When the deputies caught up with him bout a mile away. Ikeguchi shot at the officers and they returned fire, killing him. The delay in identifying the shooter was because he was not carrying any identification.

Carleton, 66, a mother of nine, was pronounced deceased at the clothing store, Mag Pi, that she owned.

Police investigators, searching for a motive, found that Ikeguchi frequently posted anti-LGBTQ comments on his social media account.

The advocacy group Equality California said in a statement Monday that over the past year, it has recorded “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.”

Ikuguchi was not the first to take down Carlton's Pride flag which was intended to show her support. People kept taking it since it hung outside her shop next to the US flag. Each time it was taken, Carlton would replace it.

Korey Pollard, whose wife worked at Carleton's shop, told The Associated Press that Carleton defiant in the face of criticism she received for hanging the rainbow flag outside ther clothing store.

“She would say, ‘Korey, this is the hill I’m going to die on. No one is going to make me take down that flag,’ ” Pollard told AP.

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