AURORA, Colo. — Colorado is seeing an increase in the number of people reporting hate crimes. The FBI reports the total number of hate crimes reported in 2022 is the most that the state has had in single year.
On Tuesday, Aurora Police announced an investigation into a bias-motivated crime. Just over the state border in Oklahoma, investigators are trying to figure out if the bullying of a trans teen contributed to their death.
"The saying that we say at our vigils is today we mourn tomorrow we fight because Nex Benedict deserves justice and Nex Benedict still deserves justice," Z Williams the co-director and co-founder of Bread and Roses Legal Center.
The center is a group that focuses on transgender social justice issues. Last week they met at La Raza Park to remember Benedict.
"It hit very close to home to me because when I was 15 I was assaulted at my high school because of who I was," Williams said.
Benedict was an Oklahoma trans teen who died a day after they were involved in a school fight. Benedict told police the group was bullying Benedict over the way they dressed. Police have not ruled out if that fight contributed to Benedict's death.
"It's a weekly and daily occurrence we hear about this happening from young people being harmed," Williams added.
Harm is what happened to one person near East Mississippi and South Buckley Road in Aurora earlier this month. Aurora Police are looking for two suspects they believe assaulted someone because of their sexual orientation.
Authorities told 9NEWS the two said derogatory things during the incident leading them to investigate this as a bias-motivated crime.
One suspect was described as a Black man, 26-30 years old, 6 feet 1 inch tall and about 215 pounds. He was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and blue sweatpants. The other suspect was described as Hispanic or mixed race, 23-25 years old, 5 feet 10 inches tall, and about 200 pounds. He was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt and black pants.
It's believed they were driving a mid-2000s black Nissan Altima with unknown license plate.
Williams knows where there's one bias-motivated incident, there's probably more.
"For every report that we see we need to remember that there’s 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 people that were assaulted and that either the folks were responding to it didn’t see that it was bias motivated or they did not go to law enforcement," Williams continued. "We know many many people do not go to law enforcement because they are just as afraid of those officers as they are of the perpetrators."
Williams said there is no single solution to the issues the transgender community faces but as a whole they encourage leaders to listen to what the generations are currently going through, the people pushing for change.
"Make sure that people in future generations don't have to fight these fights," Williams added.
Those with Bread and Roses are creating care packages for Oklahoma teens impacted by Benedict's death. They're collecting items such as stickers, posters, gift cards in small amounts, art and notes of care.
If you are interested in donating reach out to the organization via their social media channels. They will send those packages to Oklahoma on March 8.
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