At 3:15 am Wednesday morning, LAFD responded to a structure fire in the Pico-Union area of Los Angeles. The fire took 48 minutes to extinguish. Fire Crews said they discovered a body in an apartment on the second floor.
The victim has been identified as Viccky Gutierrez, a transgender Honduran immigrant.
Next door neighbor Oscar Manzano tried to awaken everyone, but the house exploded after he took just a few steps upstairs.
Manzano said he didn't know Gutierrez very well. He said he did know that she had experienced problems in the neighborhood before her death, adding that someone spray-painted slurs on the front of her former apartment because she was transgender.
A friend of the victim said she grew up with Gutierrez in Honduras.
Speaking only Spanish, she told ABC7 her friend had been in the U.S. for three years and was married to a man who worked in the Bay Area and traveled back and forth.
Just to learn that she’s no longer with us is really sad. And it’s not that she is gone, it is the way that she was murdered. She was brutally murdered, and we believe that it was intention, we believe that it was premeditated...She was burned in her apartment. The police, like always try to say to Viccky’s friends not to say anything to anybody because of the investigation... But there’s a couple of things that we want to do. One of those things is to ensure that we seek justice for Viccky.
--Bamby Salcedo, TransLatin@ Coalition
There is a GoFundMe page to raise money for a funeral:
Our beloved friend Viccky Gutierrez was murdered on 10 January 2017. She was a beautiful soul who was really nice to everyone and would offer any type of support when someone would need it. She was a young trans Latina immigrant woman who's warm smile would give anyone comfort. Viccky was the nicest girl in the world and would not harm anyone. Viccky was truly an inspiration for many of us to be like. Unfortunately Viccky does not have any family in the US, she is originally from Honduras and she now has to rely on the trans, gender nonconforming and allies to support her in her journey to the next life. We need to raise funds to send the remainders of her body to her family in Honduras and be able to support her family with the expenses for a desent funeral service. If you can and are able to support us please help us with whatever you can. Thank you so much from the bottom of all of her friends who are deeply hurt for the loss of our beloved friend.
LAPD is still investigating but has yet to even identify the body. They have said that the cause of the fire was “suspicious.”
There is a vigil tonight: Viccky's Vigil of Resistance
Please come out and show your love and respect to #VicckyGutierrez who was brutally murdered on Wednesday morning. Viccky is the second trans person in 2018 who has been murdered. We need your support. We really need to show that the injustices that our community continue to experience must stop. We need to stand in solidarity and demand the #stoptransmurders We deserve to live with dignity in a world free of fear!