The shooter, identified as Travis Ikeguchi, killed 66-year-old Laura Ann Carleton at her clothing store “Mag Pi” at Hook Creek Road in Cedar Glen after he made “several disparaging remarks about a rainbow flag that stood outside the store”, authorities in San Bernardino County said.

Before fatally shooting Carleton, the suspect tore down the LGBTQ+ Pride flag that was hanging in front of the store and “yelled homophobic slurs” toward the woman.

Ikeguchi reportedly lived in Cedar Glen and frequently posted hate-filled content on social media, sheriff’s officials said.

He appeared to have social media accounts on Gab and Twitter, where a user with his name routinely posted anti-LGBTQ+, anti-abortion, and anti-police content along with conspiracy theories.

A pinned post on his purported account on X, previously known as Twitter, shows a Pride flag on fire.

Laura Ann Carleton, known as “Lauri” was 66 years old and was the owner of a clothing store called Mag.Pi, located in Cedar Glen, near San Bernardino in Southern California.

According to the official Mag.Pi store website, her love for fashion was sparked during her teenage years.

She started her career working in the family business at Fred Segal Feet in Los Angeles while attending the Art Center School of Design. She then made her way to Joseph Magnin Century City and began running the “top fashion” show floor.

Progressing in her fashion career, Carleton joined Kenneth Cole and remained there for over 15 years, where she worked with factory and design teams in Italy and Spain.

The designer travelled with her husband Bort across the US, Europe and South America, which fuelled her love for design, fashion, food, fine art and architecture.

Carleton said Mag.Pi,strives to tackle “everyday life with grace and ease and continuing to dream.”

Faiza Saqib has the full story.

Ari Carleton, the daughter of slain Californian businesswoman Lauri Carleton, says the man who shot dead her mother is “irrelevant”.

Authorities have named Travis Ikeguchi as the gunman who shot Carleton outside of her Glen Cedar clothing store Mag.Pi last Friday after he made “disparaging” remarks about her Pride flag.

In a message to NBC News, Ari Carleton said the family “doesn’t care” about the suspect.

“We will continue to steer the narrative away from him and towards my mother and honouring her. He is irrelevant,” Ms Carelton said.

“The media must stop glorifying these individuals by giving them this platform.”

San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the homicide as a potential hate crime.

Anti-LGBTQ+ hatred and violence is “out of control” in the United States, according to Wendy Via, co-founder of Global Project Against Hate and Extremism.

“Yet again, anti-LGBTQ+ hate turned to violence, and an innocent woman tragically lost her life,” Ms Via said in a statement.

“Now, an entire community is not only reeling from the tragic death, but LGBTQ+ people and their allies everywhere are once again reminded in the worst possible way of the very real threat of hate and violence they face every day.”

Ms Via said that efforts to demonise and intimidate the LGBTQ+ community had increased globally in the past year.

“It would be naive to separate these violent attacks from the anti-LGBTQ+ efforts of some politicians and far-right organisations,” she said.

“As we’ve said before, the relentless dehumanization and demonization of LGBTQ+ people by far-right politicians, extremist religious leaders, and hateful ideology adherents — often spread online — will continue to result in violence if this rhetoric and push for irrational, hateful, and rights-restricting legislation isn’t stopped.”

Sarah Kate Ellis, the president and CEO of LGBTQ+ rights group GLAAD, said that the murder of Laura “Lauri” Carleton was an “horrific act of violence is not indicative of American values”.

In a statement, Ms Ellis said: “Our hearts are broken for Laura Ann (Lauri) Carleton, her community, and her loved ones.

“The tragic, targeted killing of Lauri over the Pride flag displayed at her Lake Arrowhead store was senseless and, unfortunately, part of a growing number of attacks on LGBTQ people and our allies. GLAAD and the ADL have tracked more than 350 anti-LGBTQ threats and attacks this year, coinciding with a disturbing increase in anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and legislation across the country.

“No one should feel unsafe or be attacked for who they are or for simply supporting the LGBTQ community. Lauri’s murder is the latest example of how anti-LGBTQ hatred hurts everyone, whether they are LGBTQ or not.

“We know a supermajority of Americans support LGBTQ people, and this horrific act of violence is not indicative of American values.”

Laura “Lauri” Carlton was a “dear friend, mom to many, ally, organizer, entrepreneur” and a co-founder of the Mountain Provisions Cooperative in Lake Arrowhead in California’s San Bernardino Mountains.

“Lauri was a pillar in our community, an immovable force in her values for equality, love, and justice,” the cooperative wrote on Facebook.

“If you knew Lauri you know she loved hard, laughed often, and nurtured and protected those she cared about. She was a force, she loved to crack jokes and wanted to live as joyful of a life as possible. We will continue to stand for the values she so selflessly stood for. Her death will not be in vain.”

Friends say this happened multiple times in the two years since she opened the California store as a second outpost to her first location in Studio City.

And, throughout it all, the 66-year-old mother-of-nine remained defiant as a prominent ally to the LGBT+ community.

This weekend, it happened once again.

Except this time, the flag removal ended with her murder – with the perpetrator shooting her in cold blood in the street.

Skylar Baker-Jordan writes for Independent Voices:

“It was only a matter of time.”

That was my first thought upon hearing of the callous and hateful murder of Laura Carleton, the owner of Mag Pi Clothing in Cedar Glen, California. A straight woman, Carleton was fatally shot by a man who confronted her over an LGBTQ+ Pride flag which was displayed at her shop. Her assailant was later killed by police.

This was not the first time someone had taken issue with Carleton’s Pride flag. As The Independent has previously reported, friends of Carleton say that the flag has been ripped down multiple times. Every time, she simply replaced the flag with another, refusing to cave in to the hateful bigots who vandalized her shop.

The inevitability of something like this happening was apparent to anyone paying attention.

The shooter, identified as Travis Ikeguchi, killed 66-year-old Laura Ann Carleton at her clothing store “Mag Pi” at Hook Creek Road in Cedar Glen after he made “several disparaging remarks about a rainbow flag that stood outside the store”, authorities in San Bernardino County said.

Before fatally shooting Carleton, the suspect tore down the LGBTQ+ Pride flag that was hanging in front of the store and “yelled homophobic slurs” toward the woman.

Ikeguchi reportedly lived in Cedar Glen and frequently posted hate-filled content on social media, sheriff’s officials said.

He appeared to have social media accounts on Gab and Twitter, where a user with his name routinely posted anti-LGBTQ+, anti-abortion, and anti-police content along with conspiracy theories.

A pinned post on his purported account on X, previously known as Twitter, shows a Pride flag on fire.

Laura “Lauri” Carleton endured verbal harassment for her support of the LGBTQ+ community in the scenic Californian community of Lake Arrowhead, according to a close friend.

Robin Lyles told the Los Angeles LGBT Center that the town of Cedar Glen, where Carleton was shot dead during an argument over a rainbow flag, was generally acceptant of diversity, but had a “vocal” conservative contingent. 

“She would get bullied all the time by people at the local restaurants or people walking around,” Ms Lyles said.

“But she wouldn’t take it, Lauri would always challenge them and be in someone’s face. She wasn’t going to let anyone bully her,” Ms Lyles, who owns the Lake House Collection store in Lake Arrowhead, told the website. 

Authorities say Carleton, 66, was shot dead by Travis Ikeguchi on Friday in a dispute over a Pride flag hung from her Mag.Pi fashion store.