NEW YORK, May 27, 2026 — Transgender people and allies gathered on a street corner outside a dollar store in Brooklyn’s Bushwick neighborhood May 27 for a vigil held in honor of Eryka Caldwell, a 41-year-old trans woman who was fatally stabbed in a nearby apartment on May 17.
Organized by longtime activist Melinda Butterfield, the event included remarks from Taylor Brown, the trans director of New York City’s first-ever Mayor’s Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs; community resources provided by the New York City Anti-Violence Project; and a musical performance from singer-songwriter Vi Viana, who paid tribute to Caldwell with a cover of The Beatles’ “In My Life.”
In her opening comments, Butterfield noted that Caldwell’s death allegedly being the result of domestic violence does not make her any less worthy of being memorialized by the trans community. A boyfriend of Caldwell’s, 38-year-old Jonathan Fernandez, was arrested on the scene and subsequently charged with murder. Caldwell’s sister later told media that Eryka had previously hidden from Fernandez in domestic violence shelters.
“When we were organizing for tonight’s vigil, a few people asked me why the trans community would rally for Eryka, since she was a victim of domestic violence, not anti-trans violence,” Butterfield said, explaining that “domestic violence against women and femmes is epidemic in our society, and reason enough for us to gather.”
“But also, domestic violence and femicide can’t be divorced from the political and social reality of trans genocide,” she continued.
Representing the newly formed Mayor’s Office of LGBTQIA+ Affairs, Brown offered condolences on behalf of Mayor Zohran Mamdani, calling the “tragic and senseless loss” of Caldwell a “reminder of all the reasons why this office was created.” Brown noted that she feels a kinship with Caldwell, who celebrated graduating from Nebraska’s Bellevue University in January 2023 and who reportedly moved into her Bushwick apartment in March 2026.
“I see so much of myself in Eryka,” she said. “I’m a biracial Black trans woman. I came from North Carolina to New York City. And in my journey here — pursuing education, pursuing gender-affirming care, looking for a place of safety and acceptance — I see so much of that in Eryka and what I’ve learned about her.”
Although Brown noted that her office is “still very much getting up and running,” she promised the Mamdani administration would “do everything in our power to make sure that this kind of violence is addressed,” citing programs affiliated with the Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes and the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice.
In conclusion, Brown noted that her office’s vision for trans safety and inclusion in New York City “includes love.” “That includes love that is open,” she continued. “That includes love that is free and love that is nonviolent.”
Following Brown’s remarks, those in attendance took a short walk to the nearby apartment where Caldwell was killed. Flowers and candles had already been laid outside the windows, with vigil-goers adding to the remembrances. The group then listened as names of multiple trans people who have died under violent and tragic circumstances were read aloud, including Luca RedBeard, Spot, Juniper Blessing, and Murry Foust.
Also honored were a still-unidentified victim in Houston whose body was found May 25 and a Jane Doe in Idaho, whose death by suicide was made public as part of the dismissal of a lawsuit over the state’s anti-trans bathroom bill, among other names.
Vi Viana, who performed an original song before her Beatles cover, told Them that she “did have a fear of performing being some kind of self-centering” but ultimately decided she wanted to “show up and do my part in honoring the memory of a fallen sister.”
“I am also a Bushwick resident, so it felt very close to home,” she said.
Asked about selecting “In My Life” — a song widely considered to be one of the greatest ever recorded, and which brought many in attendance to tears — the musician said she had been thinking about the concept of memory, especially in the wake of Caldwell’s death.
“Memories are such precious but fragile things,” she said, noting, “I write my music a lot from a place of fear and a place of wanting to fight back against the things that threaten us, so I wanted to shift the focus to the idea of memory and cherishing the people we have while they’re here and after they’re gone.”
Speaking to Them after the event, Butterfield said she had learned about Caldwell’s death from an activist friend in Los Angeles who had posted about it the day it occurred. “I was shocked because this happened just a few blocks from my home and I’m hearing about it from someone on the other side of the country,” she said. “And it really hit me hard.”
Bushwick and neighboring Ridgewood are generally considered hubs for transgender culture within New York City, which makes Caldwell’s violent death especially impactful among the LGBTQ+ community.
“I know it hit others in the community hard because we feel like Bushwick is a relatively safe place,” Butterfield said. “It’s one of the places in the city where you can walk anywhere, get on the train, and see other trans people, and I think we have a sense of safety that comes with that.”
But that sense of safety, she noted, has recently been punctured by both the killing of Caldwell in Bushwick, and the fatal stabbing of University of Washington student Juniper Blessing in Seattle, which is also considered to be a trans-inclusive enclave.
Butterfield, who took it upon herself to organize the event after previously bringing some flowers to the apartment, said she was moved by the turnout — and by how many of the vigil-goers decided to exchange contact information with the aim of forming a support network.
“I didn’t know if people would come out or not, but it was pretty clear by the weekend that a lot of people were talking about it in the neighborhood and thinking about it and planning to come,” she said. “Tonight was a wonderful display of solidarity and community.”
Source: Them
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