Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

Friends and family report that Viccky Gutierrez, 33, is the second known victim of homicide in the US during 2018. Wednesday evening, Bamby Salcedo, President & CEO of TransLatin@ Coalition, announced in a Facebook post the death of Viccky Gutierrez: “It is with deep sadness, rage and pain that I have to share with all of you that one of our sisters was brutally murdered in #southlosangeles last night.”

Viccky is reported to be the unidentified person who was found dead in a housefire in the Pico Union district of South Los Angeles.  From the The Blade:

LAPD spokesperson Officer Drake Madison told the Los Angeles Blade that the LAPD’s West Bureau Division and the LA Fire Department responded at 3:15 amWednesday morning to a fire in a multi-family house in the 1700 block of South New Hampshire Boulevard in the Pico Union district. The flames were contained to the attic and a single unit on the second floor of the two-story, 116-year-old building.

According to a report filed by Huffington Post, friends suspect she was murdered before the fire was set.

The Los Angeles Police Department is still investigating the incident and has yet to officially identify the body, but Bamby and local activists are certain that Viccky was murdered and the body is hers. Although there is suspicion that her assailant may have been a client of Viccky’s survival sex work, her friends are unsure. “There’s a strong possibility it came from work,” Bamby stated. “It’s what we have to do. But we just don’t know. We asked the LAPD to check her cell phone but everything was burned.”

Bamby Salcedo and other friends are fundraising to pay for the transport of Viccy’s body back to her native Honduras and support her family with final arrangements.

A vigil is planned for tonight, January 12, from 7-10 PM in Los Angeles.

Viccky is the second known trans person who has died a violent death in 2018, two reported deaths in ten days.

The list of trans people killed in 2018 thus far. Note that people have different numbers based on different factors. The most important thing that unites uoos all is that we want the violence to stop. We need to keep asking ‘Where is the outrage?’ During 2017, we lost at least 25 trans neighbors. May 2018 be more merciful.

1. Christa Leigh Steele-Knudslien – Massachusetts (January 6) 42 years old
2. Viccky Gutierrez – Los Angeles (January 9), 33 years old