Some people came from as far as Silver Spring Tuesday night to join dozens of people gathered in front of the Harford County Circuit Court, where Christmas lights still dangled from the trees. In gloved hands they clutched candles and wrote notes with messages for Meghan Riley Lewis.
“She really was the heart of the neighborhood.”
That’s how Carla Brown described Lewis, her neighbor. Brown lived next to Lewis, first in the apartment below her and then in the next door apartment. Brown is Black.
“There’s not a lot of diversity in Harford County. But when I moved in, she was extremely welcoming. I felt safe,” said Brown.
Lewis was killed last Wednesday, in the street in front of her home when a man named Brian Delen shot her through the abdomen. Lewis was a trans woman.
According to court documents reviewed by media outlets, Delen was on his shift as a delivery driver when he dropped off food at Lewis’s home. The two got into an altercation after he allegedly misgendered her.
The documents said Delen asked her, "Are you waiting for a food delivery, sir?”
Lewis began to argue and Delen began to drive away when Lewis pursued on foot. The documents say he then got out of the car and fatally killed her with one shot.
The Maryland Public Defender’s Office declined to comment for this story.
On Friday, a Harford County judge released Delen on recognizance. He is charged with second-degree murder and first-degree assault.
The Tuesday night vigil was organized by Trans Maryland in conjunction with Baltimore Safe Haven, a trans-led wellness center, and Upper Chesapeake Bay Pride.
Friends tried to focus on Lewis’s memory. Iya Dammons, executive director of Baltimore Safe Haven, worked with Lewis often.
“Where do I start with Meghan? Meghan kept me comfortable when I had my gender affirming surgery. She donated to our houses for our youth to be able to eat on Christmas and on Thanksgiving. She was a heavy donor to us,” said Dammons.
Dammons fights to stay positive but the anger is there.
The statistics are damning. The National Center for Transgender Equality tracked the deaths of 53 trans people in the United States from November 2022 through the end of 2023, a number that has steadily been increasing over the last few years alongside anti-trans legislation. There were 32 trans people who died by suicide in that year.
Trans women, especially Black transwomen, are the most likely to be victims of violent death.
“As a transgender person myself, we deal with this every day. I'm afraid to walk around in Maryland,” said Dammons, who is also Black, described being in a constant state of vigilance.
“Would the system do anything to help me if I disappeared? We speak her name: Meghan.”
Lewis, who transitioned in her forties, was most remembered for her work with youth. She opened up her home to people who didn’t have one, especially for holidays, as she had done at Christmas, two days before she was killed.
“She made many trans people, especially young trans people feel like there was a place that they can belong. She made them feel whole, and human,” said Ruby, a young person who spoke to the crowd.
Speakers remembered Lewis as the person who bought you flowers and jewelry when you transitioned. When your veteran father died, she got you a flag that had been flown over the Capitol building. She was remembered for her dreams of opening a retirement home for trans women in Vermont— like The Golden Girls one friend described it.
And she had a sense of humor. Here’s what Lauren Brooks will always remember:
“Her morning potty pictures. Every morning. Well, but every morning but most mornings I would get a good morning. Are you awake?” Brooks said with a big laugh as she displayed a picture of a beaming Lewis on her phone (fully clothed, from the shoulders up); Lewis is immediately recognizable by her big red glasses and tousled blonde curls.
The vigil ended with songs from the Grateful Dead, Meghan Lewis’s favorite band.
