The killing of a 16-year-old transgender girl in northwest England over the weekend could be investigated as a possible hate crime, authorities said Tuesday.
The body of Brianna Ghey was found in a park in Warrington, about 16 miles west of Manchester, just after 3 p.m. on Saturday. She had been stabbed to death.
Two local 15-year-olds, one girl and one boy, were arrested on suspicion of murder, local police announced Sunday afternoon.
At the time, Detective Chief Superintendent Mike Evans, of the Cheshire Constabulary, said investigators had not found any evidence to suggest the “circumstances surrounding Brianna’s death [were] hate related.”
But on Tuesday, officers investigating the teen’s murder said they have not ruled out a possibility that Ghey was killed because of her gender identity, and that a possible hate crime is one line of inquiry, The Guardian reported.
After news broke of the teen’s brutal killing, outraged residents of cities across the U.K. took to the streets to honor her life and call for justice.
Mourners in cities including London, Oxford, Glasgow, Dublin, and Belfast have held vigils over the past few days or announced events for this week.
On Tuesday, tributes are scheduled for Liverpool and Bristol. Organizers have asked attendants to join the vigil and light a candle for the young victim.
More than 4,600 people have already donated approximately 71,500 pounds ($87,000) to a GoFundMe page set up “to help the Ghey family who has had their beautiful daughter cruelly taken from them in the most shocking and heartbreaking way.”
The teen was described by her family as a “much-loved daughter, granddaughter, and baby sister.”
“She was a larger-than-life character who would leave a lasting impression on all that met her. Brianna was beautiful, witty and hilarious. Brianna was strong, fearless and one of a kind,” her family said in a statement following her death.
Several local media outlets reported Ghey was bullied because of her gender identity but leaders at her school refused to take any substantial action.
The school, Trinity Academy, responded to the “unfounded” allegation, saying the school has “a zero-tolerance policy towards any violent or bullying behavior,” Bristol Live reported Tuesday.
According to the LGBTQ news outlet Pink News, Ghey posted a video on her now-deleted TikTok page with the caption “Got excluded from school” just days before her body was found in Warrington.