The bear, nicknamed Sunny, was well-known as the unofficial mascot of the BEAR League.

Ann Bryant, founder and executive director of the BEAR League, said the bear's name was Sunny and that she was a "gentle daytime bear who liked people."

Bryant said Sunny had a habit of crawling through open windows and doors to find food, but had never broken into a house or been aggressive with a human being.

A BEAR League posting said Sunny was killed by "one gunshot to her back and she suffered terribly, blood all over the rocks and sand.

According to Bryant, the property owner's neighbors called her when Sunny was spotted in the lot next to his house with vodka and potato chips that the bear had taken from the cooler.

Bryant said she tried to calm down the property owner, who was aiming a gun at Sunny, advising him that shooting bears was illegal.

"He didn't want to listen to me," said Bryant. "He told me he was a hunter. He told me he had a lot of guns and that he was proud of it."

The killing infuriated Lake Tahoe's large and vocal community of bear lovers, who raised $35,000 for a reward leading to the arrest and conviction of Sunny's killer.

A lakeside homeowner who was identified as a person of intrest by authorities has supposedly received threats against his property.

As of December, 2012, no charges had been filed.

Articles:
More bears mean more strife at Lake Tahoe - latimes.com
Well-known bear found dead on Tahoe beach - Crime - The Sacramento Bee
Inside the Unsolved Killing of a Black Bear That Has an Idyllic Lakeside Town Reeling - Page 1 | Nature | OutsideOnline.com