EDMOND, Okla.– More than two dozen people gathered at an Oklahoma church for a vigil for Nex Benedict, a nonbinary teen who died a day after a fight in a high school bathroom.
The vigil at All Saints Episcopal Church in McAlester was organized by the McAlester Rainbow Connection. It was one of two Friday nights in Oklahoma, the first of more than a dozen vigils planned nationwide through Monday.
Nex Benedict, a 16-year-old student from Oklahoma, died the day after a fight in an Owasso High School bathroom.
The 16-year-old student from Oklahoma identified as non-binary and used pronouns. Three girls, who were harassing Benedict and some friends, attacked the teen for pouring water on them, Benedict told police in a video released Friday.
The teen’s mother called emergency services to the home the day after the fight and said Benedict’s breathing was shallow, their eyes were rolling back and their hands were curled, according to audio also released by Owasso police.
Matt Blancett, who organized the vigil with the Rainbow Connection, an LGBTQ+ group, said it was important to hold a vigil in McAlester because of the 2020 murder of Dustin Parker, a transgender man.
“It shows people that we have a community, we’re here and we’re not going anywhere,” said organizer Matt Blancett.
All Saints Priest Janie Koch said it is important for people to reach out for support.
“It is very, very important because the range of emotions is constantly spreading, to look out for each other and be considerate of each other,” Koch said.
In the audio call to police, Benedict’s mother, Sue Benedict, said she wanted to press charges. The responding officer can be heard in the hospital video explaining that the teen started the altercation by throwing water and that the court would consider it a mutual fight.
According to a police search warrant, Benedict’s mother told police on Feb. 7 that she did not want to press charges at that time. Instead, she asked police to speak with Owasso High School officials about issues on campus among students.
The Feb. 9 search warrant, which was filed in court on Feb. 21, also shows that investigators took 137 photos at the school, including in the girl’s bathroom where the fight took place. They also collected two stains of stains from the bathroom and retrieved records and documents of the students involved in the altercation.
Although the two-week-old arrest warrant states that police were looking for evidence of a homicide, the department has since said that Benedict’s death was not the result of injuries sustained during the struggle, based on preliminary autopsy results.
Police have said they will not comment further on the teen’s cause of death until toxicology and other autopsy results are completed.
Additional vigils are planned for Saturday and Sunday in several Oklahoma cities and others have been held or are planned in several states, including California, Washington, Minnesota, New Jersey, Texas and New York.