The authorities said that they had classified the deaths as a detest criminal activity following keeps of two female happened to be present a terribly burned vehicles the other day.

Weekly after the body of two transgender people are present in a severely burned vehicle in Puerto Rico, the police mentioned Thursday that they had detained two boys regarding the the killings along with transformed all of them up to the F.B.I.

The males, Juan Carlos Pagan Bonilla, 21, and Sean Diaz de Leon, 19, comprise taken into guardianship on Wednesday but have maybe not already been recharged, according to Capt. Teddy Morales, the chief of unlawful research for the authorities in Humacao, on Puerto Rico’s east coastline, the spot where the women’s keeps had been available on April 22.

He stated the F.B.I. have bought out the way it is and was investigating Mr. Pagan Bonilla and Mr. Diaz de Leon for possible civil rights violations.

“We tend to be classifying it a hate criminal activity since they comprise socializing aided by the sufferers, and when they found out they were transgender female, they decided to destroy all of them,” master Morales mentioned on Thursday.

Law enforcement said these were waiting around for autopsy results to figure out how the women was indeed murdered. Activists bring recognized the women as Layla Pelaez, 21, and Serena Angelique Velazquez, 32, two friends exactly who lived in new york. Her remains were receive after you also known as 911 to document a burned car under a bridge on a desolate road in Humacao, before 5 a.m. on April 22, master Morales said.

Mr. Pagan Bonilla and Mr. Diaz de Leon were socializing with Ms. Velazquez and Ms. Pelaez from the night before they certainly were killed and comprise tape-recorded using one associated with the women’s social media marketing profile, head Morales mentioned.

He said the authorities had additionally tied Mr. Pagan Bonilla and Mr. Diaz de Leon to the killings through security camera video footage and “scientific evidence,” that he decreased to outline. Mr. Pagan Bonilla admitted to taking part in the killings, and Mr. Diaz de Leon turned themselves in, the guy said.

Limary Cruz-Rubio, a spokeswoman for your F.B.I.’s San Juan area office, dropped to go over the arrests but stated the agency routinely collaborates with local, condition and federal organizations.

“The Bureau is and can continually be thinking about unlawful conduct which may fall within federal legislation,” she mentioned. “However, our coverage is we do not confirm or refuse the existence of research, to protect the ethics of any possible investigative effort.”

Mr. Pagan Bonilla and Mr. Diaz de Leon cannot instantly getting achieved for comment on Thursday nights, therefore was not right away clear should they had solicitors.

When the guys are billed, it may represent a flipping point in the managing of crimes against L.G.B.T.Q. folks in Puerto Rico, that has a disturbing reputation for violence against homosexual and transgender individuals, activists mentioned.

Ms. Velazquez and Ms. Pelaez had been the 3rd and next transgender folks slain in Puerto Rico within the last few two months, activists stated. These people were also thought to be the 7th and 8th transgender or gender-nonconforming visitors to are murdered in the usa this season, according to research by the individual liberties promotion.

In past times 15 several months, 10 L.G.B.T.Q. people have started killed in Puerto Rico, in accordance with Pedro Julio Serrano, a gay rights activist. Just about three with the deaths continue to be unsolved, he stated.

“These arrests are one step within the best course, but these murders need to be prosecuted as dislike criminal activities,” Mr. Serrano said. “We desire the us government to complete the research inside the more seven murders of L.G.B.T.Q. folk on area and offer fairness for many of these.”

Ms. Velazquez lived in Queens and Ms. Pelaez inside the Bronx. Both got recently moved to Puerto Rico, plus they had been likely to fly back into nyc later on this thirty days, according to family members and activists.

Luz Melendez, 29, Ms. Pelaez’s relative, mentioned Mr. Pagan Bonilla and Mr. Diaz de Leon are detained after a regional broadcast station submitted images of these on fb and people began to contact the facility to recognize all of them.

“We become very appreciative of the efforts that the authorities plus the neighborhood added to track down who performed this,” she mentioned on Thursday.

She stated the photographs originated two films that Ms. Pelaez have uploaded on her behalf Snapchat and Facebook reports, which demonstrated the lady and Ms. Velazquez interacting with Mr. Pagan Bonilla and Mr. Diaz de Leon.

“we spotted the videos, and it seemed like these were spending time along as friends,” she stated. “It felt normal. There was clearly sounds playing when you look at the background. Everybody Else appeared great.”

She mentioned law enforcement got shared with her group merely the men are in federal custody.

The killings came per month after Yampi Mendez Arocho, a 19-year-old transgender man, had been murdered in Moca, P.R., according to research by the person legal rights Campaign.

In March, Alexa Negron Luciano, a well-known figure on Puerto Rico social media marketing who was simply transgender and homeless, is shot to demise after a McDonald’s client complained that Ms. Negron sugar baby canada have spied on her inside women’s place.

Ms. Negron’s last minutes — framed inside the headlights of an automobile amid a cackle of laughter — happened to be uploaded on social media, an undeniable fact that activists mentioned underscored the impunity homophobic assailants believe whenever committing this type of criminal activities.

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