Los Angeles-based trans woman Viccky Gutierrez was killed Wednesday morning in South Los Angeles, says Bamby Salcedo, President of the Los Angeles-based TransLatina Coalition.Gutierrez was 33 years old.
Salcedo announced Gutierrez’s death in a Facebook post on Wednesday evening. According to Salcedo, Gutierrez was “burned in her apartment.”
“Our community is mourning once again the horrific results of the fucked up society in which we all live in,” Salcedo said. “We all need to #resisttoexist.”
She continued, “Trans women deserve to exist in this world! Fuck all of those mother fuckers who feel uncomfortable because of who we are and think that is ok to kill us.”
In an interview with INTO, Salcedo said she found out about Gutierrez’s death through a phone call from someone who knew her. Salcedo knew Gutierrez and confirmed that she was a client at TransLatina Coalition who would receive services and come to the organization often because they provided meals.
“You know, just to learn of this beautiful person, she was so sweet and so nice and so beautiful. Just a beautiful person in general,” Salcedo said. “It’s really devastating that shes’ not longer with us. It’s not just that she was murdered but the way she was murdered.”
She added, “We believe that she was killed because of who she was.”
Salcedo said she and other activists had met with local authorities to demand a thorough investigation of Gutierrez’s death.
According to Salcedo, and an event posted on Facebook, there will be a vigil in Los Angeles for Gutierrez on Friday. According to Gutierrez’s Facebook, she was from Honduras.
“Viccky was a young trans Latina immigrant woman who came to this country running away from her country seeking a better way of life,” Salcedo said. “And what she came to find in this fucked up country was the end of her life.”
Gutierrez’s death is the second killing of a transgender person less than two weeks into 2018. On January 5, police found 42-year-old Christina Leigh Steele-Knudslien dead in her North Adams, Mass. home. Her 47-year-old husband Mark Steele-Knudslien has been charged with her death. Christina Leigh Steele-Knudslien was the founder of Miss Trans America and Miss Trans New England pageants.
Photo Credit: Viccky Gutierrez/ Facebook
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