Blog — Talk Murder With Me

I thought I’d make my first article back about a very recent case. On August 18, 2023, 66-year-old Laura Ann Carleton, who went by Lauri, was shot and killed by a man at her boutique clothing store, Mag.pi, in Cedar Glen in the San Bernardino Mountains of southern California. Outside the store hung a large rainbow flag, waving proudly for all passersby to see.

While Lauri did not identify as LGBTQ+, she was a staunch ally, advocating for, supporting and donating to LGBTQ+ charities and causes, in particular, Lake Arrowhead’s local LGBTQ+ organisation.

The Pride flag had been a point of contention since the store opened in 2021. On a number of occasions, it had been torn down and destroyed by vandals. But Lauri didn’t let this bother her. In defiance, she would always replace it, each time with a larger one.

Laura Ann Carleton

Lauri became enamored with fashion when she was a teenager. She started out working at Fred Segal in LA while also attending the Art Center School of Design. Her natural eye for design and determination made her a force to be reckoned with in the industry; she progressed quickly in her career, landing a role at New York fashion house Kenneth Cole. Her work regularly brought her to Italy and Spain, which inspired her love of travel, architecture and food and drink.

Lauri was described by friends and family as compassionate, fearless and a true powerhouse. She was the matriarch of a big, blended family of nine children. She had been married to her husband Bort, a shoe designer, for 28 years.

Describing someone as a “pillar of the community” might sound like a cliche, but in the case of Lauri, it was absolutely true. When the San Bernardino Mountains experienced extreme snow fall earlier this year, Lauri, along with other members of the mountain community, came together to establish the Mountain Provisions Cooperative, which became a pivotal part of keeping people safe during the blizzard. Lauri personally secured the old gas station building, near her Mag.pi store in Cedar Glen, as a command center for Search and Rescue.

Once the situation became less dire, the command center evolved into MPC’s Free Store, where people could come and get free supplies to see them through until it was safe to travel again. Even though the snow is now gone, the Free Store still remains today, kept up by the Mountain Provisions team and volunteers. It continues to help those in need with food, second-hand clothing and other supplies.

Lauri owned two Mag.pi shops, the original in Studio City in LA and the newest in Cedar Glen. She poured her heart and soul into her shops, ensuring they were a reflection of her passions and her love of life.

Mag.Pi for Lauri is all about tackling everyday life with grace and ease and continuing to dream…

- Mag.pi’s website

A Senseless Killing

At around 5pm on August 18th, Travis Ikeguchi, a 27-year-old Cedar Glen resident, was spotted by witnesses outside of Mag.pi causing a scene over the Pride flag hanging outside of the store. According to Lauri’s friend, Melissa Lawton, Lauri went outside and exchanged words with him. Instead of leaving the property after this, he followed her into the store, yelling homophobic slurs. He then pulled out a gun and shot her once before fleeing the scene.

When responding officers entered the store, they found Lauri, bleeding out on the floor from the gunshot wound. Paramedics tried to revive her, but it was too late.

On Monday, San Bernardino county sheriff Shannon Dicus held a press conference in which she revealed Ikeguchi’s identity for the first time. After fleeing the store, she said, he was quickly tracked down by officers. As they were closing in on him, he opened fire, shooting at multiple squad cars. The officers returned fire, killing him. No officers were harmed during the shoot out. She added that the gun he used was not registered to him, nor did he have a concealed carry permit.

Who Was Travis Ikeguchi?

Much was discovered about Ikeguchi from his presence online. He was an angry and hateful individual who appeared to spend most of his time on social media, reading and engaging with material that enraged him and sent him spiraling into a pit of fear, misery and hatred.

Ikeguchi’s toxic views were well documented on social media, particularly on X (formerly Twitter) and Gab, a platform popular with far-right extremists. He used his profiles to rage against the LGBTQ+ community, abortion rights, and law enforcement. He followed fewer than twenty people on X; those he did follow included anti-trans podcasters and activists Jordan Peterson and Matt Walsh, presidential candidate and anti-vaccine activist RFK Jr and former President Trump. His retweets ranged from 9/11 conspiracy theories to climate change denial. Many were antisemitic in nature.

Ikeguchi viewed same-sex marriage as a “war” on family values. One of his social media posts showed a burning pride flag, alongside a deranged message which read:

“We need to STOP COMPROMISING on this LGBT dictatorship and not let them take over our lives! Stop accepting this abomination that the government is forcing us to submit to these mentally disordered tyrants.”

Ikeguchi’s Twitter page (source: The Advocate)

Despite all of this, Ikeguchi described himself as a Christian on his social media profiles.

A Tragedy Waiting to Happen

To be frank, the murder of Lauri Carleton is totally unsurprising. This year has seen the number of attacks on the LGBTQ+ community soar, coming in the form of physical violence, hateful rhetoric and legislation by far-right politicians.

Bills attempting to ban gender-affirming care for transgender children and teens have swept across 19 states. Anti-drag bills have been introduced in multiple states, under the guise of “protecting children”.

Tennessee led the way back in March 2023, when the state banned “adult cabaret performances” in public places where it could be seen by minors. The act, officially named the Tennessee Adult Entertainment Act but is more commonly known as the Tennessee drag bag, defined adult cabaret performances as "male or female impersonators who provide entertainment that appeals to a prurient interest.”

In April, however, federal judge Thomas Parker temporarily blocked the act from becoming law, when he ruled it unconstitutional. He wrote in his opinion that it was passed “for the impermissible purpose of chilling constitutionally-protected speech.” The injunction on the bill changed from temporary to permanent in June.

Media figures and influencers with anti-LGBTQ+ views are more popular than ever, spewing hate-filled rhetoric into the ears of millions of people across the United States and beyond through their podcasts and social media channels.

The demonisation of LGBTQ+ has resulted in outbreaks of violence across the country. Armed Proud Boys have shown up at drag queen story hours and brunches in New York and San Francisco. Boston Children’s Hospital has received bomb threats over their offering of a health program for transgender youth. In November 2022, a mass shooting at Club Q, a gay bar and much-needed safe place for LGBTQ+ individuals in Colorado Springs, left five people dead.

Matthew Clevenger, a friend of Lauri’s and co-founder of Lake Arrowhead LGBTQ+ spoke with CNN after the murder. It was not a shock that it took place in the area, or that it occurred over a pride flag, he said. He was surprised, however, that someone like Lauri, a straight, married woman with nine children, was targeted.

Remembering Lauri

According to The Hollywood Reporter (THR), no decisions have been made yet about the future of the Mag.pi stores. For many, it’s hard to imagine what will become of them without Lauri.

“There’s going to be such a big space to fill because she’s no longer there,” someone familiar with the stores told THR.

The store’s website, shopmagpi.com, is still online and you can make orders.

Two of Lauri’s daughters, Ari and Kelsey, released a statement on Instagram following their mother’s murder. The statement read in part:

“We find peace in knowing she passed quickly in a place she cherished, doing what she loved while fiercely defending something she believed in. She was fearless, cool and compassionate – always putting others first.”

Mourners and supporters of Lauri’s family and friends have come from far and wide to the Cedar Glen boutique to show their respects, leaving candles, Pride flags, photos and bouquets outside the store. Lake Arrowhead LGBTQ+ plans to hold a memorial for Lauri in the near future, when it is deemed safe to do so and her family is ready. For more information about the upcoming memorial, and to read about the Lauri Carleton Memorial Fund, please visit their website here.

Lake Arrowhead LGBTQ’s Instagram post about Lauri’s memorial (source: Instagram)

From Lake Arrowhead LGBTQ+:

Lauri Carleton was not only a beloved mother, wife, and friend but a founding member of our Mountain Provisions Co-op community and a fierce advocate for love, equality, and human rights.
Her tragic death has left a void in our hearts, but her vision for a more caring, inclusive, and engaged community lives on.

On the day Lauri was killed, a package arrived at the Carleton household. Inside was a new Pride flag. Lauri bought it because the one that was currently hanging outside the Cedar Glen store, the one she was killed over, had become faded from the sun. A lot can be said (much more eloquently than I can) about the symbolism of this new flag. But what I can say is that it represented two things. Number one, anyone who has ever felt discriminated against or unsafe because of their gender identity or sexuality will always have a true ally in Lauri. And number two, Lauri had no time for bigots and homophobes, and she wanted them to know it.