Kevin Fret , described as Latin Trap music’s first openly gay artist, was killed in the capital San Juan on Thursday morning, police said.
According to El Vocero. Around 5:30 a.m. on January 10, 2019, he was riding his motorcycle through San Juan’s Santurce neighborhood where he was shot eight times. He was taken to Río Piedras Medical Center where he was later pronounced dead.
Police cite Fret as the 22nd person murdered in Puerto Rico in 2019.
In a statement by Fret’s manager, Eduardo Rodríguez, “Kevin was an artistic soul, a big-hearted dream. His passion was music, and still had a lot to do. This violence must stop. There are no words that describe the feeling we have and the pain that causes us to know that a person with so many dreams has to go.”
In a lengthy post on Facebook, Raymond Rohena of the Puerto Rico Trans Youth Coalition, describes Fret’s murder as a “hate crime.” Rohena added that “Fret transgressed many of the expectations of hegemonic masculinity that dominate the trap genre with his empowered and colorful projection. Kevin broke many barriers, serving as a very necessary representation, denouncing without filter the homophobia on the part of colleagues in artistic genres that are notorious for their machismo and misogyny.”
Ppl mourns killing of Kevin Fret in Puerto Rico, 1st openly gay singer of Latino trap, who grew a following for its unapologetic style & rap. The singer was shot several times riding a motorcycle- in a spree of violence that is raising concerns on island https://t.co/Sf6Z3d0YeY
— Samy Nemir Olivares (@Samynemir) January 10, 2019
The Puerto Rican artist’s first hit was his single “Soy Asi,” in April of 2018.
