BUFFALO, N.Y. – A rally and vigil on Buffalo City Hall steps Sunday was one of solidarity, attended by transgender organizations and ally groups, who say violence against trans people has to stop.
The vigil was in memory on Tonya “Kita” Harvey, a transgender woman of color who was shot and killed in early February on Shepard Street.
She was identified by the LGBTQ-plus community locally and nationwide.
A different transgender black woman – who spoke at the rally and only wanted to be identified as Ari – knew the victim.
"This has struck home here in Buffalo. Usually it's someplace else, or another city,” she said, emotion in her voice.
But was it a hate crime, or was Harvey's death something else? So far, Erie County district attorney John Flynn is the only official to make that possible connection. After the homicide, he said he’d look into the possibility of Harvey’s death as a hate crime because he knew violence against transgender people is disproportionately high.
Flynn’s spokesperson declined to provide an update Sunday and said that Buffalo Police are still investigating.
Captain Jeff Rinaldo said the case is still open.
“We’re still investigating the angle for the case, so I don't want to say at this point whether or not it was a hate crime, until we're able to bring the case to a conclusion in terms of what the charges might be or how we might prosecute this,” Rinaldo said by phone Sunday evening.
Whether or not it was, the fact remains that a trans person lost her life, and that's a loss to the trans community fighting against inequalities every day.
"We are a community right now that is in flux. There is fear, there is confusion about what is the next step to take,” Ari said at the rally.
"I know that the community has come out in strong support for the victim in this case, and we've gotten some decent cooperation,” Rinaldo said. "I can tell you that they've made some good headway, and they have some promising leads that they're following up on.”
Police say a second shooting on Shepard Street about a week later of a 19-year-old man was coincidental and unrelated to Harvey's death.