Teen kills woman he just met after finding out she is transgender, Chicago police say

A Chicago teen is accused of killing a woman he had just met after finding out she was transgender, police say.

Orlando Perez, 18, is charged with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting on May 31 at the victim’s home, police said. He was arrested Sunday.

Perez met Selena Reyes-Hernandez in the early morning hours and went to her apartment, Chicago police said at a news conference Wednesday broadcast by WGN on Facebook.

Prosecutors say Perez left the apartment after learning the woman was transgender, but he “kept seeing her face and it kept bothering him and he was mad as hell,” the Chicago Tribune reported.

He went back to the home armed with a gun and shot Reyes-Hernandez in the head and back before leaving, the newspaper reported.

Then he went returned to the home a second time and shot her “lifeless body” again, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

“He thought that was enough so he ran out,” Assistant State’s Attorney James Murphy said at a bond hearing, the newspaper reported. “But he kept seeing her face, so he went back there to do it again.”

Investigators used video surveillance and information on Reyes-Hernandez’s cellphone to identify Perez as the suspect, police said.

During a bond hearing Tuesday, Perez lowered his mask and smiled a few times while trying to provide a statement, but his public defender attorney told him not to speak, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

His attorney said Perez is a high school senior who was set to graduate, the Chicago Tribune reported.

He remains in the Cook County jail with no bond.

This story was originally published June 17, 2020 at 2:15 PM with the headline "Teen kills woman he just met after finding out she is transgender, Chicago police say."