The work day of nonprofit Trans Fronteras was shattered yesterday with a loud noise and a broken window – possibly from a bullet.
“We heard an explosion and I just let out a huge scream and my immediate thought was, oh my god, someone just shot us,” said peer navigator Guadalupe Castillon-Mendoza about the incident which occurred after 10 a.m. on Wednesday, June 5.
Castillon-Mendoza and the office manager doubted themselves, at first in disbelief that something had happened, until discovering the front window had a hole in it with the window behind it shattered.
The office of the organization that assists transgender, gender non-conforming and intersex migrants is located above AWOL bar in Hillcrest. Its logo, Pride flag and curtains designed in the colors of the Trans flag are easily viewable from University Ave. below. The organization’s address and appearance is also easily found on Google maps and street view.
“Whether or not it was a targeted attack on us as an organization, or as a queer community as a whole in Hillcrest, or if it was just a stray bullet, the fact that we live in a country that has stray bullets that are going around public and residential areas where people are working is insane,” a shaken Castillon-Mendoza said.
After waiting 20 minutes on the non-emergency police line, San Diego Police Department (SDPD) dispatched investigators to the site.
The incident comes two weeks after a drive-by shooter targeted several gay bars with gel pellets, managing to shoot Rich’s VIP host Eddie Reynoso in the eye. That shooter remains at large, with SDPD pledging to increase their presence in Hillcrest.
According to SDPD, a gel pellet would not have been able to pierce through a window like at Trans Fronteras. When police searched the ground below, a bullet casing was not found.
With its team of three employees, Trans Fronteras helps gender diverse clients who may not speak English navigate social services, job placement and medical care. That vital work did not pause for the possible hate crime, although the employees are working at home the rest of this week while trying to recover emotionally.
“Our clients fled South America and Central America to get away from this. And there I am, sitting across from a trans homeless woman at noon, trying to help manage her case with a bullet hole on the right of us,” Castillon-Mendoza said. “This is America, I guess. This is what’s normal here.”
The incident coincides with President Joe Biden’s executive order limiting asylum seekers, something Castillon-Mendoza fears endangers LGBTQ+ migrants at the border. For the first time in decades, San Diego is the top entry point for migrants.
“The more obstacles that they put in the way of these people who are trying to come to this country legally, the more chance there is for something incredibly awful to happen,” Castillon-Mendoza lamented.
Hillcrest has been the target of anti-LGBTQ+ violence in the past as well. Stefano Markell Parker was sentenced to 49 years in prison for shooting 19 bullets into the Golden Dragon restaurant on February 12, 2019, “miraculously” not injuring any of the diners and staff members inside.
San Diego Pride events have also been targeted, with a tear gas attack on the 1999 Pride Parade and three gay men severely beaten in a targeted assault after the festival in 2006.
Ahead of the eight-year anniversary of the Pulse Night Club shooting occurring next week, Lambda Archives managing director Nicole Verdes wrote, “Tragedies like the Pulse nightclub shooting impact all queer people, regardless of geographic location.” Time, as well, may not diminish the impact of these violent incidents cause the LGBTQ+ community.
Ever resilient though, in the wake of such tragedies, LGBTQ+ people have gathered in Hillcrest to show fear will not stop them from showing pride and solidarity of each other. Trans Fronteras may host a rally of its in the coming days with clients and community members that the organization is going anywhere and will not run away.
