2 Men Plead Guilty to Hate Crime Against Slain Puerto Rican Transgender Woman Honored by Bad Bunny

Prosecutors said the two men admitted to assaulting Alexa Negron Luciano with a paintball gun because of her gender identity

Two men who recorded themselves assaulting a transgender woman just hours before she was found murdered in Puerto Rico pleaded guilty this week to multiple crimes.

Jordany Rafael Laboy-Garcia and Christian Yamaurie Rivera-Otero pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit a hate crime and obstruction of justice, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Puerto Rico announced in a press release on Monday.

Prosecutors said the two men admitted to assaulting a transgender woman — identified by police as Alexa Negron Luciano — with a paintball gun because of her gender identity.

On Feb. 24, 2020, just after midnight, the two men and another man, Anthony Steven Lobos-Ruiz, who has since pleaded guilty in the case, were out driving in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico, when they saw Negron Luciano standing under a tent near the side of the road, the release states.

That’s when Lobos-Ruiz began recording a video of himself yelling “la loca, la loca,” as well as other disparaging and threatening comments to the victim from inside the car, prosecutors said. (In Spanish, “la loca” translates to “the crazy woman.”)

The group then got a paintball gun and Lobos-Ruiz recorded another video, during which Laboy-Garcia was captured shooting Negron Luciano “multiple times,” the release states. After the assault, prosecutors said Lobos-Ruiz shared the video with others, though they did not reveal how many people it was sent to.

Hours later, Rivera-Otero and Lobos-Ruiz texted each other to delete the videos of the assault, prosecutors said. Lobos-Ruiz then got rid of the footage.

“The defendants are being held accountable for assaulting a transgender woman because of her gender identity and then trying to obstruct an investigation into that assault,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said in the release.

“Acts of violence against LGBTQI+ people have no place in our society today. As we mark 25 years since the death of Matthew Shepard, the Justice Department remain steadfast in its commitment to investigate and prosecute those who target LGBTQI+ people with acts of violence,” she added.

Related: 25 Years Later: New Special Honors Matthew Shepard, a Victim of One of the Worst Anti-Gay Hate Crimes in US

Laboy-Garcia and Rivera-Otero claimed they recognized Negron Luciano from social media posts about an incident that had occurred the day prior at a local McDonald’s.

In that incident, police reports (and an initial social media post by police) described Negron Luciano as a “man dressed as a woman” who was peeping at another woman using the restroom, according to The New York Times. However, no proof of the restroom incident was found, per CBS correspondent David Begnaud.

According to a bulletin posted by the FBI, Negron Luciano was found dead on Feb. 24, 2020, on the side of the road in Toa Baja.

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Negron Luciano, who had been experiencing homelessness, was shot multiple times, police said, per The New York Times, CNN and CBS News. Hours after police were called and a video of her killing had gone viral on the island, her body was found, per the reports.

Her killing sparked outrage in Puerto Rico about the prevalence of transphobia, and several LGBTQ support groups called for authorities to reclassify the incident as a hate crime. In a press conference at the time, now-former Puerto Rican governor Wanda Vázquez called the incident “violence against women, without a doubt.”

Negron Luciano’s slaying also caught the attention of Puerto Rican reggaeton artist Bad Bunny.

The "Titi Me Pregunto" singer (whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, 29) paid tribute to the transgender woman on the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in 2020 by sporting a shirt that read “Mataron a Alexa, no a un hombre con falda,” which translates to “They killed Alexa, not a man in a skirt” in Spanish.

Related: Bad Bunny Makes Bold Statement About Trans Woman's Killing on The Tonight Show

While more than three years have passed, charges have yet to be filed in Negron Luciano’s killing. The FBI is offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to an indictment and arrest for those responsible for her murder.

It’s unclear when the two men will be sentenced for their roles in Negron Luciano’s assault. Lobos-Ruiz previously pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting others. He was sentenced in November 2022 to 33 months in prison.

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