Norcross man convicted of murdering transgender woman in 2021 DeKalb County case, sentencing set Nov. 8

DECATUR, GA—DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston announced a conviction by jury trial in the case against a Norcross man accused of shooting and killing a transgender woman.

Jurors found Pedro Silva-Renteria, 21, guilty on Oct. 4 on charges of Malice Murder, Felony Murder, Aggravated Assault, and Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony, stemming from the shooting death of Sophie Vasquez (legal name Juan Vasquez), 36, on May 4, 2021.

During the trial, Defendant Silva-Renteria’s defense team tried to argue that he shot Vasquez out of fear once he learned she was a transgender woman.  However, social media messages showed Vasquez was proud of her identity and had disclosed to Silva-Renteria several times that she was a trans woman.

According to the investigation, officers with the Brookhaven Police Department responded a little after 8 a.m. to a report of a person shot at an apartment on Windmont Drive.  When they arrived, police found Vaquez lying face down on the floor near the front door of her apartment.  She had been shot multiple times in the head and face.

Police interviewed a neighbor who reported hearing several gunshots around 3:45 a.m.  Another neighbor shared doorbell camera footage that showed a man arrived at Vasquez’s apartment around 2:50 a.m. and then left around 3:20 a.m.  The man appeared to leave the complex but returned after a few minutes and walked around the parking lot before video showed him return to Vasquez’s apartment at about 3:45 a.m.

As part of the investigation, officers reviewed Vasquez’s cellphone, which showed she and Defendant Silva-Renteria had started communicating through social media several months earlier.  Vasquez stopped replying to Silva-Renteria, but he continued to message her periodically in the early months of 2021.  On the night of May 3, 2021, Vasquez responded to Silva-Renteria’s communication and sent him her address at his request.  At 2:50 a.m. on May 4, the day of the shooting, Silva-Renteria sent Vasquez a message to tell her that he had arrived at her apartment, the same time as the man captured on surveillance video at the complex.

Investigators executed a search warrant at the home of Silva-Renteria’s parents and found clothing matching the outfit worn by the man on the surveillance in his room, as well as the murder weapon and ammunition.

Silva-Renteria fled to Texas, where he was arrested on Aug. 5, 2021.

DeKalb County Superior Court Judge LaTisha Dear Jackson, who presided over the trial, scheduled a sentencing hearing for Defendant Silva-Renteria on Nov. 8 at 9 a.m.

The case, assigned to the Homicide and Gangs Unit, was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Connor Payne with assistance from Senior Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Tarver, District Attorney Investigator Michael Sheppard and Victim Advocate Christy Palmer.  Brookhaven Police Department Inv. T. Lewis and Det. J. Avelar led the initial investigation.