Anthony Torres, an activist, artist and DJ who is known as Bubbles, was reportedly shot and killed on the same block as the New Century strip club on Larkin and Myrtle streets around 3 a.m., according to his attorney Jim Reilly.
This is a hate crime. The details are still coming out… For a transgender activist to be gunned down on [his] own street shouldn’t stand and won’t stand.
--Reilly
Bubbles friends dispute the identification made by Reilly, saying that Torres identified as a gay man who enjoyed wearing women's clothing.
You always knew when Bubbles was in the room or in the building. He was larger than life but at the same time on a one-on-one level was one of the most dearest and compassionate people I knew. If Bubbles came to your party, you knew it was a good fucking party.
He was a very public figure in our world and I expect our community to respond to this heavily. There’s going to be a lot of anger.
--DJ Buckner Williams
San Francisco Police Department spokesperson Officer Giselle Linnane said Sunday in an email to the San Francisco Examiner that a “30-year-old female” victim “was transported to the hospital and pronounced deceased.”
The police have been treating our neighborhood as a crime containment zone, for example allowing round the clock drug dealing on my corner. It draws in crime, it draws in people who are high on coke and who are easily triggered.
--David Elliot Lewis