Vitalie Oprea – Photo: 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office
A 47-year-old Colorado man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for attempting to run over a lesbian couple with his vehicle and ramming their truck as they tried to escape.
As reported by CBS News, Vitalie Oprea took his parents’ vehicle without permission on February 19, 2023, and was driving near the intersection of East Arapahoe Road and South Liverpool Street in Aurora when he spotted two women kissing.
Witnesses told police that Oprea became enraged, yelling at the couple and making obscene gestures before making a U-turn into oncoming traffic and driving toward them.
According to a press release from the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, which covers Arapahoe County and nearby southern Denver suburbs, the couple ran into a grassy area near Grandview High School, and Oprea drove over a curb and across the grass toward them.
After the women got inside a Ram pickup truck, Oprea rammed the vehicle with his own car. He then got out, kicked the passenger side, opened the door, and attempted to pull one of the women out.
Oprea fled the scene and was arrested later that day in Arvada, about 20 miles from Aurora. While being placed under arrest, he allegedly told officers: “I drove at the women because I saw them kissing and they were lesbians and I wanted to kill them.”
The couple told investigators they feared for their lives and believed Oprea, whom they did not know, was trying to kill them. Witnesses likewise told police they believed he was pursuing the women and attempting to strike them with his vehicle.
Oprea later pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder after deliberation, along with a violent crime bias enhancement, resulting in a 20-year prison sentence.
“These women did nothing to provoke this violence,” Deputy District Attorney Lauren Agee said in a statement. “They were targeted, chased, and left fearing for their lives. Our office takes hate-motivated violence extremely seriously, and attacks rooted in hate will be met with accountability and significant consequences.”
In 2020, the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office established a Hate Crimes Team to focus on investigating and prosecuting bias-motivated crimes.
“This case highlights why we established our specialized Hate Crimes Team,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Joel Zink said in a statement praising Oprea’s sentence. “By dedicating specific resources and expertise to cases where individuals are targeted because of who they are, we ensure these crimes are met with the full force of the law.”
GLAAD has released new data showing that 1,042 anti-LGBTQ incidents were reported across 47 states and the District of Columbia in 2025 -- a 5% increase over the previous year, according to the organization’s ALERT Desk Anti-LGBTQ Extremism Reporting Tracker.
Anti-LGBTQ incidents were defined as "an act of harassment, threat(s), vandalism, and/or assault against an individual, group, and/or organization," with explicit evidence of anti-LGBTQ bias as a motivating factor.
The incidents included 128 acts of hateful vandalism, 76 violent assaults, 22 threats of mass violence, and 15 arson attempts.
Police in Thailand have arrested a suspect in connection with the violent murder of an LGBTQ TikTok influencer from Myanmar, who was found beaten to death in a remote forest on January 20.
Authorities were alerted after a villager herding animals discovered a body beneath a tree in a forested area near Phathong village in Thailand’s Mae Sot District, roughly 300 miles northwest of Bangkok.
The deceased was identified as 25-year-old Ko Tin Zaw Htwe, a prominent LGBTQ TikTok influencer with more than 1.1 million followers who posted under the handle "Irrawaddy Ma." He had been missing for two days before his body was discovered. His final video, uploaded on January 19, showed him lip-syncing to a popular song.
A masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot a queer woman in Minneapolis after opening fire through the window of her SUV during a confrontation in the street.
Video footage posted online shows two masked ICE officers approaching a Honda Pilot stopped in the middle of Portland Avenue near 34th Street in Minneapolis' Powderhorn neighborhood. One agent can be heard yelling at the SUV's driver -- later identified as 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good -- telling her to "get out of the fucking car" while attempting to open the driver's door, as a second officer stands back.
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