The authorities said that they had categorized the fatalities as a hate criminal activity following the keeps of two ladies had been present in a badly burned car week that is last.

Per week following the figures of two transgender females had been present in a defectively burned car in Puerto Rico, law enforcement stated Thursday which they had arrested two males regarding the the killings and had turned them up to the F.B.I.

The males, Juan Carlos Pagan Bonilla, 21, and Sean Diaz de Leon, 19, were taken into custody on but have not been charged, according to Capt wednesday. Teddy Morales, the main of unlawful investigations for the authorities in Humacao, on Puerto Rico’s eastern shore, where in actuality the women’s stays were entirely on April 22.

He stated the F.B.I. had bought out the situation and ended up being Mr. that is investigating Pagan and Mr. Diaz de Leon for feasible civil legal rights violations.

“We are classifying it as a hate crime simply because they had been socializing using the victims, and when they learned they certainly were transgender ladies, they made a decision to destroy them,” Captain Morales stated on Thursday.

The authorities said these were waiting for autopsy leads to regulate how the ladies was killed. Activists have actually identified the ladies as Layla Pelaez, 21, and Serena Angelique Velazquez, 32, two buddies whom lived in new york. Their keeps had been found after an individual called 911 to report a burned automobile under a connection for a desolate road in Humacao, prior to 5 a.m. on April 22, Captain Morales said.

Mr. Pagan Bonilla and Mr. Diaz de Leon have been socializing with Ms. Velazquez and Ms. Pelaez regarding the evening before they certainly were killed and were recorded on a single for the women’s media that are social, Captain Morales stated.

He stated law enforcement had also tied up Mr. Pagan Bonilla and Mr. Diaz de Leon to your killings through protection digital digital camera footage and evidence that is“scientific” which he declined to detail. Mr. Pagan Bonilla confessed to taking part in the killings, and Mr. Diaz de Leon switched himself in, he stated.

Limary Cruz-Rubio, a spokeswoman when it comes to F.B.I.’s San Juan industry workplace, declined to talk about the arrests but stated the bureau routinely collaborates with regional, state and agencies that are federal.

“The Bureau is and can often be enthusiastic about criminal conduct that may fall within federal jurisdiction,” she stated. “However, our policy is we usually do not verify or reject the presence of investigations, to guard the integrity of any feasible investigative effort.”

Mr. Pagan Bonilla and Mr. Diaz de Leon could maybe not instantly be reached for touch upon Thursday night, and it also had not been straight away clear should they had attorneys.

In the event that guys are charged, it might express a point that is turning the management of crimes against L.G.B.T.Q. people in Puerto Rico, that has a history that is disturbing of against homosexual and transgender individuals, activists stated.

Ms. Velazquez and Ms. Pelaez had been the next and 4th transgender individuals killed in Puerto Rico within the last few 8 weeks, activists stated. They certainly were additionally considered to be the 7th and transgender that is eighth gender-nonconforming individuals to have already been killed in the us this current year, based on the Human Rights Campaign.

Into the previous 15 months, 10 L.G.B.T.Q. individuals have been killed in Puerto Rico, relating to Pedro Julio Serrano, a rights that are gay. All but three for the fatalities stay unsolved, he stated.

“These arrests are one step within the right direction, however these murders need to be prosecuted as hate crimes,” Mr. Serrano stated. “We desire the federal government to complete the investigations within the other seven murders of L.G.B.T.Q. individuals regarding the area and serve justice for several of these.”

Ms. Velazquez lived in Queens and Ms. Pelaez within the Bronx. Both had recently traveled to Puerto Rico, in addition they had been intending to travel back again to ny later on this thirty days, in accordance with family unit members and activists.

Luz Melendez, 29, Ms. Pelaez’s relative, stated Mr. Pagan Bonilla and Mr. Diaz de Leon had been arrested following a radio that is local posted pictures of these on Facebook and folks started initially to phone the section to spot them.

“We are super appreciative of this work that the officials in addition to community devote to locate whom did this,” she said on Thursday.

She said the images originated from two videos that Ms. Pelaez had published on her behalf Snapchat and Facebook records, which revealed her and Ms. Velazquez socializing with Mr. Pagan Bonilla and sugar babies Mr. Diaz de Leon.

“I saw the videos, and it also seemed she said like they were spending time together as friends. “It seemed normal. There clearly was music playing when you look at the history. Everybody seemed fine.”

She stated the authorities had shared with her household just that the males had been in federal custody.

The killings arrived four weeks after Yampi Mendez Arocho, a transgender that is 19-year-old, ended up being killed in Moca, P.R., based on the Human Rights Campaign.

A well-known figure on Puerto Rico social media who was transgender and homeless, was shot to death after a McDonald’s customer complained that Ms. Negron had spied on her in the women’s room in February, Alexa Negron Luciano.

Ms. Negron’s final moments — framed within the headlights of a car or truck amid a cackle of laughter — were published on social media marketing, a well known fact that activists stated underscored the impunity homophobic attackers feel when committing crimes that are such.