Two Arrested in Killings of Transgender Women in Puerto Rico
The authorities mentioned that they had labeled the deaths as a hate criminal activity following the stays of two women are present in a poorly burned auto last week.
Each week following the systems of two transgender people comprise present a poorly burned vehicles in Puerto Rico, the authorities mentioned Thursday that they got arrested two guys relating to the killings together with turned them up to the F.B.I.
The people, Juan Carlos Pagan Bonilla, 21, and Sean Diaz de Leon, 19, are taken into guardianship on Wednesday but have not started energized, according to Capt. Teddy Morales, the principle of criminal research for any authorities in Humacao, on Puerto Rico’s east shore, the spot where the women’s remains happened to be entirely on April 22.
He said the F.B.I. have bought out the situation and is exploring Mr. Pagan Bonilla and Mr. Diaz de Leon for feasible civil-rights violations.
“We become classifying it a hate crime since they comprise interacting making use of the victims, and once they revealed they were transgender people, they chose to kill all of them,” Captain Morales mentioned on Thursday.
Law enforcement stated these people were waiting for autopsy results to figure out how the ladies have been murdered. Activists has identified the women as Layla Pelaez, 21, and Serena Angelique Velazquez, 32, two buddies whom lived-in New York City. Their particular remains were receive after one called 911 to report a burned auto under a bridge on a desolate street in Humacao, just before 5 a.m. on April 22, Captain Morales mentioned.
Mr. Pagan Bonilla and Mr. Diaz de Leon was interacting with Ms. Velazquez and Ms. Pelaez on night before they were killed and had been recorded on one associated with women’s social networking profile, head Morales said.
He mentioned law enforcement have in addition fastened Mr. Pagan Bonilla and Mr. Diaz de Leon to the killings through surveillance camera footage and “scientific research,” that he dropped to detail. Mr. Pagan Bonilla confessed to taking part in the killings, and Mr. Diaz de Leon switched themselves in, the guy said.
Limary Cruz-Rubio, a spokeswoman when it comes to F.B.I.’s San Juan field workplace, declined to discuss the arrests but said the bureau consistently collaborates with regional, county and national organizations.
“The Bureau was and can often be enthusiastic about violent run which could drop within national jurisdiction,” she stated. “However, our very own coverage try we do not confirm or reject the presence of research, to guard the ethics of every possible investigative efforts.”
Mr. Pagan Bonilla and Mr. Diaz de Leon cannot instantly become attained for discuss Thursday night, therefore wasn’t immediately clear should they have attorneys.
In the event that the male is charged, it may signify a turning part of the handling of crimes against L.G.B.T.Q. people in Puerto Rico, with a disturbing history of assault against gay and transgender individuals, activists mentioned.
Ms. Velazquez and Ms. Pelaez happened to be the 3rd and fourth transgender individuals killed in Puerto Rico within the last few 8 weeks, activists said. These were in addition thought to be the 7th and 8th transgender or gender-nonconforming individuals were slain in the usa this current year, according to research by the Human legal rights Campaign.
In the past 15 several months, 10 L.G.B.T.Q. folks have become murdered in Puerto Rico, relating to Pedro Julio Serrano, a gay liberties activist. Just about three on the fatalities continue to be unresolved, he mentioned.
“These arrests were one step during the right direction, but these murders have to be prosecuted as dislike criminal activities,” Mr. Serrano said. “We craving the federal government to finish the research in additional seven murders of L.G.B.T.Q. men and women on the isle and offer justice regarding ones.”
Ms. Velazquez stayed in Queens and Ms. Pelaez within the Bronx. Both got recently journeyed to Scruff vs. Grindr Puerto Rico, and they are looking to fly to New York later on this period, based on family unit members and activists.
Luz Melendez, 29, Ms. Pelaez’s cousin, said Mr. Pagan Bonilla and Mr. Diaz de Leon happened to be arrested after a nearby broadcast station posted artwork of them on Facebook and folks begun to phone the station to recognize all of them.
“We become awesome appreciative of the jobs that officials while the neighborhood added to find who did this,” she mentioned on Thursday.
She said the photographs originated two films that Ms. Pelaez had submitted on her Snapchat and Twitter accounts, which showed their and Ms. Velazquez socializing with Mr. Pagan Bonilla and Mr. Diaz de Leon.
“we spotted the video clips, also it appeared like these were spending time along as family,” she mentioned. “It felt normal. There seemed to be sounds playing in the background. Folks appeared okay.”
She said the authorities had shared with her family members just your guys comprise in federal guardianship.
The killings emerged four weeks after Yampi Mendez Arocho, a 19-year-old transgender people, was actually slain in Moca, P.R., based on the Human Rights strategy.
In March, Alexa Negron Luciano, a popular figure on Puerto Rico social media who was transgender and homeless, had been recorded to passing after a McDonald’s visitors reported that Ms. Negron had spied on the inside the women’s space.
Ms. Negron’s last moments — framed in headlights of an automible amid a cackle of laughter — happened to be posted on social media marketing, a fact that activists mentioned underscored the impunity homophobic assailants feel when committing these criminal activities.