How Did Kevin Fret Die? New Details About The Gay Puerto Rican Rapper's Death
He may have been a victim of a hate crime.
Facebook Latin rapper and LGBT activist Kevin Fret was fatally shot Thursday in Puerto Rico.
The 25-year-old was shot eight times while riding a motorbike through the island's capital of San Juan around 5:20 a.m., according to El Vocero, one of the largest local newspapers. He was taken to the Medical Center of Rio Piedras, where he later died of his injuries.
Fret was widely known as the first openly gay artist in the Latin trap scene and was actively involved in the LGBT community.
"Kevin was an artistic soul, a big-hearted dreamer," Fret's manager, Eduardo Rodriguez, told Billboard. "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. We must all unite in these difficult times, and ask for much peace for our beloved Puerto Rico."
His death brings the total number of murders in the country this year to 22, police said, addressing the increase of recent violent crimes in the country. The Caribbean island is experiencing a "crisis of violence," the top FBI official in Puerto Rico said on Wednesday.
Authorities are looking for a man who was on another motorbike with Fret when he was shot but fled the scene. A motive for the shooting was not clear, police said. An investigation is underway.
Fret made a name for himself with the release of his single "Soy Asi" in April 2018 and hoped to pave the way for other LGBT artists to follow in his footsteps.
"I'm a person that doesn't care what anybody has to say," he told Paper in April. "[Now I see] young gay guys or young lesbians that are looking at me now like a role model, like wow, if he did it, and he don't care what anybody else has to say, I can do it."
Fret added that he used the music video for "Soy Asi," which has over 800,000 views on YouTube, to come out as gay to the music industry.
"I had everything in my mind, like the day I come out [in Latin trap] as a gay guy, I'm going to make my first video and I'm going to be showing my stomach, and I'm going to act like I don't give a damn about what anybody has to say — with my blonde hair, my black nails, showing my stomach, glittery from head to toe," he said.
Being gay in Puerto Rico was "an act of resistance," said Puerto Rican writer and activist Samy Nemir Olivares, who said Fret "represented a refreshing view in a music genre that is very homophobic and very machista."
The stigma around gays in the country has many wondering if Fret's murder was a hate crime.
Fret claimed he had previously been attacked for his sexuality in Miami, an incident that left him with a battery charge.
“Another beautiful artist taken too soon & another reason why being an ally is so important. #RipKevinFret,” Queer Eye star Jonathan Van Ness tweeted of Fret's death.
Sarah Gangraw writes about all things news, entertainment and crime. You can follow her on Instagram and Twitter.