A man who shot and killed a transgender woman after meeting her at her Brookhaven apartment in 2021 was convicted of murder Thursday, officials said.
Pedro Silva-Renteria, 21, was a teenager when he fatally shot 36-year-old Sophie Vasquez on May 4, 2021, DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston said. Officers found Vasquez lying dead in her apartment from multiple gunshot wounds to the head and face several hours after the shots were reported, according to Boston.
Silva-Renteria was identified as the suspect about two weeks after the killing, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported. He fled to Texas and was arrested in Grand Prairie, a suburb of Dallas, on Aug. 5 of that year.
According to Boston, investigators learned that Silva-Renteria and Vasquez first made contact months earlier on social media. Vasquez stopped replying to Silva-Renteria, but the 18-year-old continued to message her periodically in the first few months of 2021, Boston said.
On the night of May 3, 2021, Vasquez responded to a message from Silva-Renteria and sent him her address, Boston said. Silva-Renteria arrived at her apartment at 2:50 a.m. the next morning and texted her that he was there. Investigators were later able to see Silva-Renteria’s arrival on security camera video footage.
Credit: Courtesy of Go Fund Me
Credit: Courtesy of Go Fund Me
A neighbor shared doorbell camera footage with police that showed Silva-Renteria going into Vasquez’s apartment around 2:50 a.m. before leaving around 3:20 a.m., the DA’s office said. He seemed to leave the apartment complex, then return and walk around the parking lot before returning to Vasquez’s apartment at about 3:45 a.m. Investigators interviewed a neighbor who reported hearing several gunshots around that time.
Boston said Silva-Renteria’s defense team argued at trial that the defendant shot Vasquez out of fear upon learning that she was a transgender woman. However, Vasquez was proud of her identity, Boston said, and she had told Silva-Renteria that she was a trans woman several times over the months they exchanged messages.
A jury found Silva-Renteria guilty of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, Boston said. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Nov. 8.
Vasquez, who was originally from Costa Rica, had lived in Atlanta for about 12 years, her sister, Angela Vasquez, told the AJC after the shooting. Sophie Vasquez had been a member of Community Estrella, a local organization that supports the Latinx transgender community. The organization held a vigil for her at her apartment complex the week after her death that was attended by local elected officials and representatives from the police department.
In the aftermath of the killing, Brookhaven police said there was no evidence to label the incident a bias crime, and Silva-Renteria was not ultimately charged with a hate crime.
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